


A Soul’s Descent

by Ren_is_Random



Category: Underfell - Fandom, Undertale
Genre: A Soul’s Descent, Angst, Big Brother Sans, Blood and Gore, Child Frisk, Depression, Female Frisk, Frans - Freeform, Friendship, Frisk Needs A Hug, Frisk did a bad, Hurt/Comfort, Kinda, Other, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Red - Freeform, Self-Hatred, Suffering, Swearing, Tags confuse me, Undertale AU, brought over from quotev, but not really, but not really again, but only at the beginning, but she’s trying to make it right, classic, kind of?, kustard - Freeform, previously know as Soulfell, sans protecc frisk, some tags won’t be listed, universe hopping, ’cause tags with spoilers need to die in a fire
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-06
Updated: 2021-03-02
Packaged: 2021-03-10 19:00:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 28,987
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28442070
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ren_is_Random/pseuds/Ren_is_Random
Summary: Frisk absorbs Sans' soul after an unintentional genocide run. In her grief, she resets to try to fix it and make everything right. However, things don't go as planned and she ends up in a violent version of the Underground. With Sans stuck in her head, she now has his magic to help them survive and escape. But Frisk is committed to sparing. It will be difficult to spare when everyone here wants to kill her. What will she and Sans do?
Relationships: Frisk & Sans, Frisk/suffering
Comments: 22
Kudos: 54





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is a rewrite of a slightly older fic that I made. I originally started posting this on Quotev, but I’m bringing it over here.

Frisk had gone through almost the entire Underground. It was a scary place, full of monsters. Each one Frisk had come across had tried to kill her. Some of them had even succeeded. Many, many times. Had it been terrifying? Of course. From the moment that flower named Flowey tried to trick her and kill her on sight. 

**That’s what monsters did of course. Lead you into a false sense of security before killing you when you least expect it.**

By the time Frisk had made nearly all the way through the Underground, she had managed to kill any monster that attacked her. She didn’t like hurting them. Not at all, but...

 ** _‘Self defense killing isn’t murder,’_ **a voice in Frisk’s head told her. 

Right. They attacked Frisk first. It wasn’t her fault that she needed to defend herself. 

The girl had just entered a large golden room, light pouring in from the large windows. It was beautiful, and a strong contrast with what she wore: old blue and purple striped sweater and old jean shorts. Her dark brown hair was cut down to her shoulders and her bangs were parted slightly over her left eye, the whole thing tussled slightly from her encounters with monsters. Her feet were bare, and only lightly coated in dust, with blisters all on the bottom of her feet from walking without shoes throughout a variety of terrain. 

In her hand she held a worn dagger she had found in a grey house. While she was exploring the colorless home, she had found a dagger almost immediately, and she felt a strong urge to take it. She hadn’t even really been thinking when she grabbed it and brought it with her. By the time she had made her way down to the golden room, she finally realized what she had done while her brain was on autopilot. Not that she minded it too much, since she decided that it would likely help her defend against any monsters left that would attack her. 

And her suspicion about finding another monster was right. In front of her, she saw a family figure, slightly silhouetted in the golden lit room. That was...Sans the Skeleton, waiting for her, dressed in his usual blue hoodie, white t-shirt, black athletic shorts, and pink slippers. 

Frisk hadn’t seen him since she was in that awful snowy place. When she first met him, he had scared her, then apologized and was nice to her afterwards for a while. But by the time she was approaching Papyrus, he had changed into what everyone else was like in this place;

Terrifying.

She hadn’t seen him again after that. Until now. 

“So, you finally made it to the end,” he said with a long and exasperated but slightly defeated sigh. His voice was full of bitterness. “I guess it's not that surprisin’ when you think about it; that dandy little time travel trick you have saved you from Undyne a good number of times, eh?”

Frisk flinched back in surprise. Wait… he _knew_ about her dying and going back in time? She had thought it was like those _Final Destination_ movies, where only she could remember herself dying. No one else had reacted to her constantly returning from the dead. 

But Sans could?

_‘How did he—?’_

_**‘Don't let him get under your skin.’**_ A voice told her. **_‘He's just going to try and kill you like the rest. You_ have _to get home, don’t you? Stay determined. You can kill him.’_**

Sans chuckled at her surprised reaction. “Yeah I know _all_ about your reset trick. But don't worry, I'm the _only_ one who knows besides you. Well, besides the weed too, but that doesn't matter. What matters is what's happening...right here...right now…”

Frisk didn’t like where this was going. The skeleton was so good at being terrifying. Back when he was being nice to her, she actually managed to start to believe him. Believe that he was different from all of the other monsters who wanted to catch and kill her. But he had shown her his true colors. 

_She… She was stupid to believe in him, wasn’t she…?_

“I'm the one who judges you based on what you did through your _entire_ journey,” he continued. 

Frisk clutched the worn dagger in her hand nervously, and fidgeted under his stare. Sweat came to her face and a single bead rolled down to her neck, sticky and wet. ‘Judge’?

**_‘Like_ he _can be the judge of anything. He’s the one who manipulated_ you _.’_**

… Yeah. Yeah, right. He was the bad guy. He wasn’t going to be _fair_. And that _terrified_ Frisk. And what terrified her more, was when his eye sockets went pitch black.

“You didn't spare _anyone_. No monster you came across was left alive. NONE. There's so much dust down here that anyone left would choke if they breathed too hard.”

W… Wait… Huh…?

_**‘So what? They attacked you first, didn’t they? All you did was defend yourself! It’s not your fault you want to live, right?’** _

“And you killed my _brother_ ,” Sans spat. “All he wanted was to join the Royal Guard; he wouldn't hurt a _fly_.”

_‘He… wouldn’t…?’_

Frisk turned her wide, maroon eyes to her hands. She… No, he… but… She… She _did_ kill him, didn’t she? Papyrus? Now that she took a longer moment to think it over, he… did say he had spared her. That he believed in her. That he would be her friend.

_‘But… But that was a lie, right? H-he was just trying to trick me… But…’_

She was doubting herself. Her hands had powdered dust all over them. That was… what monsters were made out of. She had thought that they… She didn’t… She didn’t know. She didn’t know anymore.

...

She _murdered_ them…

...didn’t she?

**_‘You didn't have a_ choice _! He was going to capture you and then Undyne would've killed you! Don't listen to this liar! He’s trying to trick you, like everyone else has!’_**

Frisk opened and closed her mouth several times. Did she— didn’t she— what —did she— did— no— yes— no— but— but—??

…

But what…?

“...I-I—”

“Save your breath, kid. I don't wanna hear _any_ excuses,” Sans cut her off sharply. However, he took a small moment to take in and let out a breath to calm himself. “But, tell ya what, I'll go easy on you. I’ll just ask you a simple riddle, if you can answer correctly, you can go.”

Frisk blinked and looked back up at him in confusion. “Riddle?” She repeated in a whisper so soft he almost didn't hear her say it. 

He nodded. “Yup. Goes like this: do you think anyone could be a good person, if they just try? That even the worst person, can change?”

Oh.

Frisk gulped. 

...This wasn’t a riddle. 

Sans gave a sigh when she remained silent. “Alrighty then. I’ll ask you a better one. D O Y O U W A N N A H A V E A B A D T I M E ? ”

Frisk flinched. He had that terrifying voice again. The one he had used back in the snowy place. She didn’t like it. She faced the ground, too scared to look him in the empty eye socket. She was starting to tremble. 

“Because if you take one more step… you’re _really_ not gonna like what happens next.”

Every fiber of her being screamed at her to run away. She wanted to run and hide. She wanted to crawl into a small dark space and close herself off from the world. She wanted to stay as far away from Sans as possible. He was livid. Absolutely _livid_. It was no wonder why. Frisk killed monsters. Probably everyone Sans had ever known and loved. Because of what? Self defense? She really thought it was self defense? Yes, she had, but—

It came as a surprise when her body seemed to move on its own, taking a single step forward. 

Frisk’s maroon eyes widened in horror. What? She hadn’t done that. She didn’t _want_ to do that. She wanted to run! Get away from him! Why did she get closer to him? Why did she make that one small movement? The _last_ thing she wanted was to aggravate him more!

She slowly turned her eyes up to face him. What she saw wasn’t a good sign. 

Sans closed his eye sockets, small bitter smile on his face. “Heh. Well. Sorry old lady.”

Frisk felt her heart beat extra loud in her chest that time. 

“ _This is why I don’t make promises…_ ”

_‘No, no, no, no no…!’_

_**‘You coward. You hypocrite. You deserve this. You killed them. You’re getting what’s coming to you. Accept this. Accept your punishment.’** _

Frisk… somberly agreed with the voice in her head. She deserved anything he threw at her. She was awful. She was terrible. Useless….

“It's a beautiful day outside, birds are singing, flowers are blooming, on days like these kids like you…” 

...But she was still scared to die…!

“SHOULD BE BURNING IN HELL.”

Frisk didn't have time to react to the Gaster Blaster. 

**Load**

Frisk stumbled and fell back on the stairs, dropping her knife. She gagged, then fell on her hands and knees as she tried to vomit. Nothing came out. She gasped and heaved as she tried to regurgitate anything, but she hadn’t eaten in so long...

_‘I can’t do this, I can’t, I need to run, I can’t do this, I can’t face him—‘_

_**‘Of course you can’t,’**_ the voice mocked. **_‘You’re too weak and cowardly to accept your karma. And what exactly will running do? Sans will find you. He’ll kill you over and over again anyway. Why not go and actually face what’s coming to you? You deserve his punishment anyway.’_ **

Tears fell from Frisk’s eyes as she processed this. 

_**‘You deserve to be killed by Sans. So don’t try to fight it. Just go and accept your fate.’** _

Frisk sobbed as she nodded. Yeah. She deserved it. She did terrible things. She needed to face her karma. She couldn’t run anyway. So, reluctantly, she shakingly stood and went down the steps again and into the golden hallway. As she suspected, Sans was waiting there for her, a sight that now made the girl’s entire frame tremble. The skeleton seemed to already pick up on this, and smiled wider at her.

“Back already? Guess that’s not too surprisin’. You wanna kill me too, after all, don’t you.”

Frisk held in a hiccup. “...No…”

Sans blinked, but besides that, didn’t show that he had heard her. “Well, let’s try this again, shall we?”

Magic energy buzzed through the air as attacks were summoned and shot towards her. Frisk tried to dodge as best to her ability, but was burned by many blaster rays, a particularly bad one on her left hand. And then a bone attack she hadn’t seen managed to slice her arm. 

Frisk yelled in pain and grabbed the wound to try and stop the bleeding. She knew that was bad. The particular spot she had been cut was a vital area, and she wondered if Sans intentionally went for that, or if he was just lucky. Frisk tried not to let herself fall on her knees as she gasped at all of the pain in her body. 

And there Sans was, just standing with a smile and a wink. “I always wondered why no one ever used their strongest attacks first.”

Frisk’s vision was already starting to get a little blurry, though she was unsure if it was from the blood loss, or just from the pain everywhere else. She bit her lip as a few tears fell down her face. It was her turn. Meekly, she spared him. 

Sans blinked, smile dropping slightly in confusion, then dropped completely to glare at her. “You're not gonna fool me, kid. I ain’t dyin’ ‘cause of one of your tricks.”

Frisk tried to hide a sob. “...I-I… don’t… w-want to…” she tried to explain, but her voice was too soft. Her vision was slowly starting to get even blurrier.

 _ **‘So, are you going to die to him, or try to kill him to get passed? I’m curious,’**_ a voice in her head asked her. 

She didn’t know. She just knew that she didn’t want Sans to die. She honestly didn’t even know what she wanted. 

She let out a gasp as she was covered in a blue aura and lifted off of the ground before being thrown into a pillar and impaled to death by bone attacks.

**Load**

Frisk was on the stairs again. 

… 

_**‘Go already. Face your fate.’** _

Frisk whimpered and followed orders, making her way back into the golden hallway. Once again, Sans was there waiting for her. 

“Heh. You don’t give up easily, do you?” the skeleton commented with a dry chuckle. 

Frisk wanted to shake her head. _‘I already have. That’s why I’m here.’_

She tried dodging again, but she refused to fight back. She honestly didn’t even know why she still kept the dagger in her hands. Perhaps only to make herself _feel_ a tiny bit safer. Not that she was or ever could be anymore.

That was reaffirmed when bones impaled her all over her body. 

**Load**

This time she was completely destroyed by a good shot from a Gaster Blaster. 

**Load**

An impalement straight through her heart. 

**Load**

Slammed onto the ceiling and floor.

**Load**

Frisk sobbed softly as she reluctantly trudged back into the golden hallway again. 

...Why was she doing this…?

Why was she even trying to dodge? It didn’t matter. She was just going to die again. 

At this point, she stopped trying to avoid the attacks. 

She felt her skull crack when a bone hit her.

**Load**

Frisk was slammed into the ground, her nose breaking and a few teeth falling out. She always had nightmares about her teeth falling out, but it being in real life was so much worse. 

She sobbed into the floor as another blaster hit her. 

**Load**

Frisk cried softly as she once again entered the hallway, but something different happened. 

Sans hesitated. 

She didn’t know why, but he didn’t immediately attack her. He narrowed his sockets at her for a moment before finally killing her once again. 

**Load**

**Load**

**Load**

**Load**

Frisk lost count of how many times she had died. But the worst part was, now Sans wasn’t fully killing her. He’d impale her and leave her there to suffer for a minute before he either finished her off or let her bleed out. Whichever came first. 

He had done that the last few times, and he was doing it again. 

Frisk had her left hand stuck to the floor by a bone attack through the palm, and another one or two bones stuck in her back, though thankfully not going all the way through. The girl was bleeding from the mouth and nose. Tears were pouring down her face, and she tried to quiet her agonized sobs as Sans stared down at her. 

“... What the hell, kid,” he said after a long moment. “You’re not even tryin’. It’s like you _want me_ to kill you.”

Frisk hiccuped, refusing to look up at him. 

“...What the hell is your problem?” He asked her, voice now filled with confusion, and even a bit of concern. “If you don’t wanna fight me, then why do you keep coming back? You could just go and hunker down somewhere for a while until I leave. Why’re you doin’ _this_?”

Frisk sobbed a little louder, hiding her face against the floor. “... B-b-because I d-deserve it…”

Her voice was so soft. So faint Sans almost couldn’t make out what she was saying. But he managed. He furrowed his bone brows. 

“I mean… you aren’t wrong. But I didn’t expect you to actually realize that.” Sans took a moment to figure out what to say next, all the while hearing her faint sobs. “... If you're really so bent up about killin’ everyone, then why the hell did you do it?”

Honestly, he wasn’t really buying that she was ignorant to it all. However, he had to admit that she was making his soul ache at how pathetic she looked right now.

Frisk shook her head slowly. “...I-I’m sorry… I… I-I was s-scared… I didn’t… I d-didn’t know w-what else to do…!”

She cried louder now, body shaking and her gasping in pain due to her injuries. She shook her head against the floor again.

“... I didn’t know what else to do…”

…

Crap. She was actually hurting his soul with this act. He wondered if it actually was an act now. She seemed so believable, but at the same time…

Sans sighed, then slowly sat on the floor a few paces away from her. “Your name was Frisk, right? How old are you, Frisk?”

Frisk hiccuped. “...T...T-twelve…”

...And his soul hurt even more now. Still, he wouldn’t let his guard down. He needed to concentrate if she really was tricking him. 

“And us monsters scared you, didn’t we? ‘Cause we battle you?”

She slowly nodded, still not facing him.

Sans grimaced. He knew. He had seen her terrified. When he first met her, he had seen that she had been attacked. Perhaps he didn’t know the extent of what she went through. It could’ve been torture. He had no clue. 

“You feel bad?”

She nodded. 

...

Sans hesitated. “...Then… Why don’t you just reset?”

Frisk was silent for a few seconds, before finally turning her head up to face him. Her maroon eyes were even more red, tears down her face, and blood dripping out of her nose and mouth. 

Another sharp pain in his soul.

“...W-what...?”

Sans blinked, then nodded to himself. “Right, you still don’t really know how this works… You can turn back time every time you die, right? Well, you can actually go back as far as you want with your determination, without dyin’.”

...

Frisk stared at him in confusion. 

“... It’s called a Reset,” he explained. “You can use your determination to will a button to take you back as far as you want. If you use that, you can go back to when you first fell down here, before anyone died. Everythin’ will be back to normal, like it never happened.”

There was a pause, then a glimmer of hope shined in her eyes. “...I… I-I can fix it…?”

Sans nodded. “Yep. But the weed’ll remember, and I will too. But if you do this, I promise that I won’t hold it against you, okay? As long as you go back, and don’t hurt anyone, I won’t hold a grudge. Do we have a deal?”

More tears fell. She gave a weak but relieved and genuine smile, and nodded as enthusiastically as she could. 

At least she agreed. That was good. Sans gave her a small smile back to encourage her. “Alright. All you have to do is think about what you wanna do, and make yourself want to do it. Once the button appears, just think about when you first fell down here, then hit the button. Simple as that.”

Frisk nodded again. “Okay…” 

The girl looked down to concentrate on this. She honestly had no idea what she was doing, but she had to try. She had to make this right. After a few moments of this, the button finally appeared in front of her. A glowing orange box with the word RESET in it. 

It was real. 

She gave a large smile. She could do this. She could fix this.

“Do you see it?” Sans asked her.

“...Uh-huh.”

“That’s good. Now just press the button and— _AUGH_!”

A red light appeared and a loud slash echoed through the hallway. 

Frisk jerked her gaze up again, only to see Sans with a large slash across his chest—blood already oozing out— as he collapsed onto his back. 

Frisk eyes went wide with horror. 

“SANS!”

He gave a groan and a whine in pain, so at least he was still alive. His rib cage was rising and falling at a faster pace than what it probably should have been. 

Frisk needed to help him. Unfortunately, her left hand was stuck to the floor by a bone through her palm. Frisk gave a small cry in despair as she looked back and forth between Sans and her hand. She needed to help him. 

Without any regard for herself anymore, Frisk grabbed the bone with her free hand and braced herself before yanking it out with a loud scream of pain. It hurt. Gosh it hurt. But she didn’t have time to focus on herself. She needed to help Sans. Using her right hand again, as well as her legs, she army crawled her way towards the skeleton, each movement shooting agonizing pain through her wounds, especially the ones in her back. 

“S-Sans…! No…!”

His eye sockets were pinched shut and blood was starting to trickle down his chin. Once Frisk was right by his side, he opened his eye sockets again, staring up at the ceiling. 

He panted. “Who...hit me...?”

“I don't know…” the girl cried, shaking her head. “I don’t know. How do I help you?”

As the blood oozed out of his wounds, dust started to float up from his bones as well. He turned his gaze to her, slowly examining her state. Her left hand had a huge hole through the palm that was draining blood fast, leaving a bloody trail back to where she had crawled over from. 

Sans gave a weak smile and a bitter chuckle. “...Heh… You… you’re tough, kid. I’ll give you that…”

“Sans, you have to tell me how to help you!” Frisk yelled in desperation. 

“...There’s nothin’...” he told her with a small shake of his skull. “I’m a one Hp monster… I'm gonna die…”

He took in and let out a shaky breath. Parts of his bones were dissolving into dust. 

“...J-just reset,” he instructed. “...It’ll bring me back… I’ll be fine… It’ll all be fine… You can do this…”

Sans gave her a weak smile, then fell into dust, leaving his clothes behind. A white soul appeared, floating almost a foot above the ground. Frisk’s eyes went wide. With her uninjured hand, she reached out and cupped it in her palm. It didn’t actually touch her skin, just floating an inch or two above her hand. She could feel the life in it, the pulse.

“...No…”

And then it began to crack.

Frisk panicked. 

“N-no! Sans!”

She pulled his soul to her chest in desperation, wanting to keep him safe in any way possible. A flash of white light blinded her, but only for a second. After a moment of holding it to her chest, she pulled her hand away, only to find the soul gone. 

Frisk paused for a moment. 

…

She knew what she needed to do.

She willed the reset button to appear again, it being easier than last time. She was going to do it, to reset. She reached out and pressed the orange button, but for a split second… she saw it glitch and turn red?

The world around her vanished and was replaced with rock walls, and she felt herself falling, just like she had before. The wind rushed past her, and she looked down to see the bed of golden flowers. Then darkness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Writing the thing about the teeth made me super uncomfortable. I shutter now just thinking about it. Why did I write it...?


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mandatory recap of the last chapter:
> 
> Sans freaking died.

Frisk slowly cracked open her maroon eyes as she regained consciousness. Her vision was filled with the light of the sun shining down from the large cavernous hole above her. The girl winced in pain slightly, her body aching from the fall. This was all so familiar. Why was it familiar again?

Her eyes shot open. 

Memories of the golden lit hallway and Sans’ dying form flooded her mind. So that meant that she did it. She… She actually came back. She started over, or “Reset” just like Sans had told her. Hope washed over her. She could do this. Fix everything. She could be good, not hurt anyone, find Sans, and make it up to him.

Frisk gave herself a small nod and sat herself up, once again wincing slightly as she did. Nothing was broken, but it ached. 

But then she noticed something… off. 

Her feet, which were supposed to be bare, now had black combat boots over them. Frisk’s eyebrows narrowed in confusion as she looked up towards her waist. Her ratty blue jean shorts were gone and were replaced with black ones, with white stripes down the sides and white trim. Then Frisk looked to her chest, to find a blue hoodie with a purple stripe along the middle, the hood a simple grey color, and the only thing under that was a sports bra.

…

The girl sat in silence for a moment, unsure what to think. She reached up to her head as she tried to process it, and was met with even more confusion when she found her short hair pulled into a short ponytail.

…

“...Whaaaaat…?”

Her mouth opened, and stayed that way for a moment as she tried to think of something to say or do. So much confusion. 

“What… happened?” She slowly asked herself in a whisper. 

Suddenly, there was an echo of a voice. 

_‘Kid?’_

Frisk jumped up when she heard it. It sounded like it was right next to her, or behind her or something. But as she quickly jerked around, she was met with the walls of the cavern. 

No one.

“H-hello?” Frisk called out wearily. “Who’s there?”

There was a small beat of silence before the voice came back. 

_‘Kid, it’s me,’_ he said. _‘Sans.’_

Frisk blinked in confusion. Sans was here? She looked back and forth, trying to find him. “H-how? Where are you? I can’t— I can’t see you.”

A small sigh was heard. She faintly felt a small ting of… defeat(?) in her soul. _‘Kiddo, I’m in your head. I died, remember? You absorbed my soul.’_

“...I did… what?” Frisk asked him. 

_‘You absorbed my soul,’_ he repeated. 

Frisk furrowed her eyebrows again. “I-I don’t know what that means.”

 _‘Right right. Humans don’t know this stuff.’_ Sans took a second to gather his words before explaining it to her. _‘Uh, long story short, humans and monsters have different souls, and can merge with one or the other. In this case, you absorbed my soul, basically makin’ us one in the same.’_

Frisk paused again, trying to comprehend what he was saying. “...I think I’ll need the long version here.”

Sans sighed. _‘Long version’s too long. I’ll have to explain it to you later. In layman’s terms, I’m now a part of your conscious. So basically I’m livin’ in your head. Or_ soul _, but, y’know…’_

Frisk remained silent again for a long moment, raising her hands to her head in confusion and shock. 

“...O-okay, then… Uh…” She took in a breath of air. “How do you know all this…? And… How are you so calm about it too?”

Sans hummed an ‘I dunno’. _‘I’ve studied this stuff a lot when I was growin’ up. And I guess I’m so calm because I've been processin’ and explainin’ it to myself since you fell.’_

“...How long was I out for?”

_‘Mm… About four hours I think?’_

“That long?!” She exclaimed. It hadn’t _felt_ that long. She thought it was probably thirty minutes at _most_. “A-and you were conscious during that whole time?!”

_‘Yep.’_

Frisk buried her face in her hands. “That must’ve been torture…”

 _‘Well, it was definitely a surprise at first, but I figured it out quick enough and got used to it,’_ he… ‘metaphysically’ shrugged off. _‘Oh, also. I don’t think you need to speak out loud to talk to me. I should be able to read your thoughts.’_

Frisk blinked again. She could? That was… odd. She wasn’t exactly sure what to do to do that, but she attempted to. _‘O-oh. Okay. ...Like this?’_

She hoped that it worked. 

_‘Yup, I can hear you fine, kid.’_

Frisk gave a nod at his response. But… there was something on her mind that wasn’t fine to her. She clutched the hem of her jacket nervously. 

_‘Sans?’_

_‘Yeah, kid?’_

The girl bowed her head in shame. _‘I'm sorry...about everything. I didn't even realize I was doing so many bad things until you told me. I guess I was too scared to realize it. It was like...there was a voice in the back of my head telling it was okay, but then you told me otherwise and it just clicked.’_

Sans was silent for a moment, then sighed again. _‘Look, kid. I told you I wouldn’t hold a grudge if you did this. I wasn’t lyin’.’_

_‘B-but… You… You died, didn’t you?’_

_‘I mean, technically?’_

_‘So why aren’t you mad?’_ She questioned. 

Sans paused again. _‘Do you_ want _me to be mad?’_

Frisk hugged her arms nervously. She felt like she wanted to hide, as useless as that feeling was. Sans was literally stuck in her head, a part of her soul. How could she hide from him? _‘W-well… N-no… But, I just kinda expected you to…’_

 _‘Kid._ Frisk _.’_ Sans stopped her. _‘I’ll admit, I’m not happy that you killed everyone. But, I can’t bring myself to_ hate _you. You did what I asked you to. Just don’t kill anyone this time, and you’ll be fine, alright?_ We’ll _be fine.’_

Frisk hesitated. She… wasn’t sure if she completely believed him or not. She wasn’t sure if she believed that _he_ completely believed that or not. But she didn’t want to argue, so she dropped it. 

_‘...Kay…’_

Frisk started asking her way down the hallway ahead, the only option. She felt some dread build up as she walked, remembering what happened last time. 

_‘The flower thing should be up ahead,’_ she said, mostly to herself.

 _‘Ugh. The weed,’_ Sans sneered, Frisk feeling the bitterness in her soul from him. _‘Okay, I know I said not to kill anyone, but if we need to, I can make an exception for_ him _.’_

The girl grimaced at that. Sans was acting as her moral compass now. Did he really just say she could kill another living being?

_‘Really…? Are you sure?’_ she asked him hesitantly.

 _‘The thing doesn’t have a soul. Literally. He’s killed with no remorse whatsoever in the past. Seriously, he’s killed everyone in the Underground several times over. And not just the “monsters that attacked you” everyone; I mean literally_ everyone _, except me. Damn weed couldn’t manage it.’_

Frisk went silent for a moment. _‘O-oh… That’s… b-bad. ...But I’m not sure if… Wait.’_ The girl stopped in her tracks as she neared the entrance. 

_‘What’s up?’_

_‘... Do you know if the ruins were always this red?’_

… 

_‘What?’_ Sans finally asked her, completely confused. 

_‘The ruins,’_ Frisk repeated. _‘They were purple during the last run. Now the walls are red.’_

It appeared that Sans didn’t know what to say. He must have been as shocked as she was at the sight. 

_‘Huh, that_ is _weird.’_

That was all he could say on the matter. 

Still, Frisk continued forward, mentally preparing herself for Flowey and his ‘friendliness pellets’. She’d just have to be sure to avoid them this time instead of grabbing one like an _idiot_.

What she didn’t expect to see was the flower shiver in what appeared to be fear, even though he hadn’t even spotted her yet. After a short examination, Frisk could see that his golden petals had tears and were faded in color. He even seemed to have burns all over his form. As he heard her steps, Flowey jerked around to face her, his expression practically horrified.

“Oh no…” the flower wheezed. He panicked and started waving his leaves around as if to get her attention. “Y-you! Human! You can’t be here! You have to hide! They’ll kill you if they find you!”

Frisk felt her mouth open to respond, but didn’t know what to say, completely taken aback by his words.

 _‘Whoa. What happened to him?’_ Sans asked. His obvious bitterness towards the flower melted away slowly at the sight of him. 

Frisk also felt her fear washing away and being replaced with confusion and concern. This… this wasn’t Flowey, right? There was no way that this golden flower trembling in fear was the same arrogant and sadistic flower she had met before. This had to either be a trick to lead her into a false sense of security, or this wasn’t actually Flowey.

...Right?

Frisk decided to take her chances. She knelt down to him to try to match his level, even though he was only about a foot tall, if that. 

“What are you talking about? Who’s going to hurt me?” Frisk questioned. 

Frisk realized that—upon reflection— Toriel would never have hurt her, if Frisk had just listened to the kind goat woman. Yet she was too _stupid_ enough to not notice or understand that. Toriel just wanted to protect her, to take her in as her own. She wouldn’t ever hurt her, not on purpose anyway. So who wanted Frisk dead?

“The other monsters here,” Flowey elaborated. “They want— _need_ — a human soul to break the barrier. There’s prize money and everything too. Once you’re spotted, they’ll either kill you on sight, or kidnap you and take you to the Capital to be killed. ...Except for maybe a handful of others...” 

The flower shuddered at the thought.

Frisk just stared at him in confusion for a moment. What he said… it was like he was telling her what she had thought the monsters were like before her fight with Sans. Just like it. So… was that what was really going on, or was Flowey lying? This couldn’t be what was actually going on, right?

“Are you sure?” Frisk asked him.

Flowey nodded and hung his head somberly. “Down here… it’s kill or be killed…”

Frisk heard—and even felt— the growl from Sans at Flowey’s words. 

_‘Like_ hell _it is. Frisk, just ignore him. He’s playin’ tricks on us, I’m sure, even if he is a good actor.’_

So then even _Sans_ admitted that Flowey seemed genuine with his statement. It was even more genuine when the flower looked back up at her with mournful eyes. 

“Human… You seem like someone with a soft heart.” He pinched his eyes shut and shook his head. “They’re going to tear you apart if you’re not careful. Look, you have to hurry. Toriel will be here soon, and you need to leave before she can find you.”

Frisk furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. Last time she met Toriel, the goat woman was so sweet and caring. The only reason that she had killed her was because Frisk thought she was tricking her, and she didn't know what to do. Then Frisk was forced to fight her until she died. An accidental death. 

“Toriel?” Frisk echoed. 

Flowey nodded. “She’s one of the few that doesn’t want to take your soul to the Capital or kill you on sight.”

Frisk felt relief at that. “But that’s good, right?”

Unfortunately, the flower shook his head again. “N-no, she—“

The faint tapping of footsteps and humming was heard somewhere down the cavernous halls. Flowey flinched hard and his eyes went wide with panic. Quickly, he turned back to face Frisk.

“You have to hide, _now_!” Flowey whispered. “If she finds you, just play along until you find an opening. I’ll try to find you later.”

He dove into the ground. 

Frisk began to panic now. What did that mean? Where exactly was she supposed to hide? The only other way out was a dead end. With little options, Frisk stood and ran back to where she had come from, not knowing what else to do.

 _‘K-Kid, I think he’s just messin’ with us,’_ Sans told her, even though his voice wavered slightly. _‘He can remember the resets too. He’s probably just screwin’ with you to freak you out or somethin’.’_

 _‘Well, if he is, he’s a really good actor!’_ Frisk replied, fear slowly building up. 

Frisk made it back into the sunlit room, desperately trying to find a hiding spot, and biting her lip when her best option was trying to fit behind one of the old pillars. If she tried that, it would be completely useless since they were too small to actually make a difference. 

The footsteps and humming were getting closer. 

Sans was probably right anyway. She knew that Flowey was evil. That he would be the one to try to trick her into something like this. After taking a few breaths, she forced herself to push most of her fear away. Toriel was nice, she reminded herself. Frisk had found her creepy and invasive before, but that was just her paranoia. Toriel was actually really kind and caring. Frisk was just scared that she would end up… _hurting_ Toriel again. 

The humming and footsteps stopped. There was a small gasp. 

“A human!” 

The footsteps started again, a little faster since they were rushing towards her. Frisk turned around to face the goat woman, but Frisk felt her heart drop at the sight of her. 

Toriel’s purple robes were now black, a yellow and red crest piece on her chest. The fabric was torn and singed at the shins, and the goat woman’s once shining white fur was now tinged grey, likely due to a lack of self care. Finally, there were her eyes, a deep red and widened slightly, just enough to be off and uncomfortable to look at. 

“Are you alright, my child?” Toriel asked her as she grabbed her hands. “Are you hurt anywhere? Was the fall scary? Do you need comfort?”

Oh wow, the goat woman was huge, probably around eight feet tall. Her paw like hands completely encompassed Frisk’s own. 

The girl could feel Sans’ confusion, too flabbergasted to even say any words at this point. Frisk was confused as well at the sight. Toriel… wasn’t supposed to look like this. She hadn’t been like this before. 

Had she…? 

“U-uh, n-no, I’m fine,” Frisk stuttered out. 

“Oh wonderful! I am so glad you are healthy!” Toriel replied with a toothy grin, showing her sharp canines. “I am Toriel, caretaker of the ruins. I bet that you are confused. Do not fret. I will help you. Come with me and I will show you to my home.”

She didn’t even give Frisk a chance to respond before grabbing her arm and pulling her away. The girl was forced to jog a little to keep up with the tall monster as she walked. 

_‘Okay, uh, that’s a little forceful,’_ Sans commented with unease.

 _‘Y-yeah, it kind of hurts too,’_ Frisk replied, wincing slightly. 

Toriel’s grip on her arm was tight enough to make sure her arm didn’t slip out of her grasp, and was almost tight enough to be verging on painful. If Toriel knew this, she didn’t show it, since she was with large strides, her head held high and smiling in joy. 

Sans gave a hum of thought, then began muttering. _‘Okay, so Toriel is definitely the lady behind the door if he voice is anythin’ to go off of. She also wants to care for kids, but she seems to be actin’ a little out of character…’_

 _‘U-uh, what was all that?”_ Frisk asked. 

_‘Nothin’, nothin’. Just talkin’ to myself,’_ he dismissed before going back to his muttering. _‘It’s odd. Don’t know her that well, but she probably wouldn’t be so forceful with this…’_

 _‘Okay, Sans, you’re kind of freaking me out,’_ Frisk stopped him. _‘D-do you know her or something? What’s wrong?’_

Frisk once again felt Sans’ unease in her soul. 

_‘I’m… not quite sure what’s wrong yet.’_ He admitted. _‘Stuff just feels off. The previously purple now red ruins, Flowey acting all terrified of everything, and now Toriel’s… whatever_ this _is. It… just feels off,’_

Frisk let it sink in for a moment as she continued through the red walled catacombs with the goat woman, then gave a slow nod to him in agreement. She could see that behind corners and walls, would peek a monster every now and then, each one seeming to glare at her like they hated her, but didn’t move to do anything. Odd, but… that was just Frisk’s paranoia again, making her think that monsters were scary, right? They were probably just squinting their eyes to get a better look at her for… curiosity probably. 

It took a while for them to finally reach Toriel’s house. They had to go through so many puzzles, ones that Toriel solved for her. While Frisk was glad she didn’t have to fight anyone— _she knew how that ended up last time_ — she was still a little uncomfortable with how close an eye Toriel kept on her. But that was just her paranoia again, right? Yeah.

“Welcome to my home, child!” Toriel said with enthusiasm as they entered the house. 

It was… different from how Frisk last remembered it, though she wasn’t exactly sure how. Maybe it had darker lighting? Decorations missing? Slight sense of aging to the walls? Maybe all three, or maybe none at all? She wasn’t one hundred percent sure. 

…

Oh! There was more red, white, black and yellow instead of beige colors. Not too much, but enough to be noticeable. 

Huh.

Toriel walked her down the hallway towards the bedroom she had been given last time. “This will be your room from now on. Please make yourself at home. I must go run a few errands, so please stay here until I come back, alright?”

Toriel opened the door and urged the girl into the room. Finally, after walking all that way, Toriel let go of her arm, then smiled at her. 

“I will be back shortly. Be good now.”

The goat woman closed the door. 

...Frisk was left standing in the bedroom alone. 

It took a moment for Frisk to actually react and look around the room. It was… a lot messier than she had remembered it. The bed was unmade, the furniture decaying and chipped, the wallpaper was rolling up, and the wooden floors were stained. Everything just looked… old and mistreated. 

Frisk looked over to the toy chest—also old and splintered— and carefully opened it to see what was inside. Broken toys. 

“...Huh.”

 _‘Man. Didn’t figure the lady for a… well, not_ slob _, but… not not a clean freak? No, that’s a double negative…’_

Frisk closed the toy chest again and stood back up. “It didn’t look like this last time either. It was a lot more tidy,” she muttered softly in explanation. 

_‘Wait, wait,’_ Sans stopped her. _‘Y…You mean that this_ isn’t _how it was in the last run?’_

Frisk’s eyebrows knitted together in confusion and slowly shook her head. _‘No? It was a lot cleaner. The floor was clean, the dresser and stuff looked alright—‘_

 _‘No, no. No no, that’s not possible,’_ Sans said, sounding perplexed by the statement. _‘From the changes we made so far, that shouldn’t affect how the room looks.’_

 _‘What do you mean?’_ Frisk didn’t get it. She still had a hard time wrapping her head around the time travel and the soul absorption thing. So she didn’t understand what he was talking about now. 

_‘Okay, in timelines, certain events can change if the person goes back in time and does somethin’ different from before, right?’_ He told her. _‘The only ones who would go “off script” are people like you, me, and the weed. Everything else should be the same when not affected by us. Taking a non-violent path wouldn’t change how a_ bedroom _looks.’_

Frisk blinked slowly. _‘Oh, oh! Okay, I get it. And yeah, that’s… weird.’_

Sans went silent for a short moment, thoughts and theories probably running through his mind. _‘Try openin’ the door.’_

Frisk didn’t understand why he wanted her to do that, but she obeyed anyway. She went over to the door and grabbed the knob to turn it and open it. But it didn’t budge. 

“Locked,” she commented aloud. 

She felt a wave of suspicion in her soul from Sans. She could practically imagine his expression, eye sockets narrowed as he pieced together everything. He was quiet for a long while now, worrying Frisk. 

“Sans?”

He suddenly jerked out of his intense thinking. _‘Hm, what?’_

_‘...Do you have any idea what might be going on here?’_

Sans hesitated, then sighed. _‘Not entirely, no. At least I don’t have enough evidence either way yet. I’ll just… have to try and figure it out later.’_

 _‘...Oh. Okay then.’_ Frisk shifted her weight as she glanced around the room, trying to find something to do. Instead she just twiddled her thumbs to give her hands something to do. _‘Uh… Now that we have more time, do you think you could try explaining the whole “soul thing” to me again?’_

 _‘Uh, y-yeah sure,’_ he agreed, taking a moment to gather his thoughts. _‘Okay, do you understand how we merged souls?’_

_‘I think so, yeah.’_

_‘Okay, so added onto that, you’ve also gained my magic abilities too. My bone attack, Gaster Blasters, gravity magic, all of that. You’ve also gotten a bit more Hp than before. You were originally at twenty, and I was at one, so now you have twenty-one Hp.’_

_‘...That’s not really a big difference.’_

_‘Welp, it’s still a difference. Anyway. In addition to that, your physical appearance has changed slightly as well. When a monster absorbs a human soul, the physical differences would be much greater since monsters are made more of magic than of matter, and therefore can change drastically. In contrast, a human absorbing a monster soul wouldn’t change that much since matter is a lot harder to manipulate. Therefore, your appearance is still roughly the same.’_

As Sans explained this to her, Frisk got up and walked over to the cracked mirror to look over herself. She was a bit taller, probably by an inch or two. Her clothes were different, as she had noted earlier, and her short brown hair was the same as well, just pulled back into a short ponytail. The only other difference she could really spot was that her skin seemed a bit paler in tone

 _‘Nice. Rockin’ that hoodie, kiddo,’_ Sans commented lightheartedly. 

_‘Heh. Thanks…’_ she replied with a somber smile. She wanted to joke with him, but she found it hard to do. At least genuinely. 

Sans seemed to sense her unease. If she could feel his emotions then it probably made sense that he could feel hers. 

_‘Hey. How about we practice using my magic some? It’s yours now too, so we should make sure you’ll be able to use it if you need to.’_

_‘H-huh?’_ Frisk stuttered, caught off guard by the offer. _‘A-are you sure?’_

_‘Yeah, why not? Might as well, right?’_

“Ah…” Frisk opened her mouth to say something, but couldn’t quite figure out what she wanted to say. She bit her lip and twiddled her fingers nervously. _‘I-I don’t know… That kind of feels like… stealing?’_

_‘...Kid, c’mon. What happened, happened. You should try to make the best out of this. Besides, it’s not stealing if I’m givin’ you permission.’_

Frisk hesitated, fidgeting in place. _‘... I guess… So, uh, what should I do first?’_

_‘I’ll teach you how to make bone attacks. That’s the easiest. Basically, all you gotta do is imagine the attack. That’s it. Seriously. It’s pretty simple.’_

_‘...Oh. Uh. Okay… So basically just think of the bone, then try to make it?’_

_‘Yep. Go head and try it. Just make sure that you’re imaginin’ a small one so we don’t accidentally hit somethin’.’_

_‘Kay…’_

Frisk bit her lip again as she tried to focus and create the attack. How exactly was she supposed to imagine it? Just how it looks, or the weight and feel of it too? She didn’t know how magic worked at all!

…

A small bone appeared in the air in front of her. 

Oh. That was…

...easier than she expected. 

_‘Good job, kid. Now try to move it without it hittin’ anythin’,’_ Sans instructed. 

Frisk gave a small shrug then reached for it.

_‘No no, like, with your mind.’_

Frisk stopped and pulled her hand away. _‘Oh.’_

She tried to focus again to make it move, and the bone shook a little as she did. Did that mean it was working? Or at least starting to work?

The bone shot off and stuck itself into the wall, a crack forming in it. 

Frisk stiffened and bit her lip again as she stared at the now cracked wall. She heard Sans give a small hiss as well. 

“...Oops…”

_‘Yeah, you might need some more practice.’_

For the next forty-five minutes, the two worked on using the magic. Frisk summoner bone after bone, and after several failed attempts, she managed to get down the motion. She even managed to summon multiple at once now. However, practicing even that much took a toll on her body, making her tired and drained. 

_‘Yeah sorry,’_ Sans apologized to her. _‘Usin’ the magic for the first time can get exhaustin’.’_

Frisk nodded as she panted slightly. _‘No wonder you're so lazy. I wanna go to sleep.’_

_‘Uh, I’m not sure if that's a good idea. Toriel might come back soon.’_

_‘But I'm tired. I don’t want to fall asleep on her when she’s here. I might as well take a nap now, right?’_

Sans was silent for a moment. _‘...You're probably right. You seem_ bone _tired. Go on to sleep. I'll keep an eye socket out for her.’_

Frisk giggled at his puns. “Thanks.”

_‘No problem, kid.’_

Frisk sat down, her back against the side of the bed and yawned.

 _‘Wouldn’t you rather, y’know, sleep_ on _the bed?’_ Sans asked her, confused. 

_‘N-no, I’m good,’_ Frisk assured him. 

_‘... Well alright.’_

Frisk closed her eyes and let herself drift to sleep. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have read a ton of Undertale fanfics, and one thing that I did not want to do in this was make Sans constantly mad at Frisk. The reason behind this is that I’ve read similar fics where Frisk does a genocide run (usually either due to a possession from Chara or an alternate Frisk from a different timeline). Watching Sans being horrible to Frisk constantly can get really frustrating to read, even if he has a good reason to be mad. So here, I gave Sans a reason to not be bitter towards her. Yes, he’s still upset, but he still knows that Frisk tried for fix it, and he understands that intent matters. He has a logical way of thinking, and doesn’t let his emotions cloud his judgement. At least... most of the time.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IMPORTANT NEWS! SOULFELL’S TITLE WILL BE CHANGED SOON! IF YOU WANT A SAY IN WHAT IT MIGHT BE, CLICK THE LINK BELOW TO VOTE!  
> http://aminoapps.com/p/d29l46
> 
> Mandatory recap of the last chapter:
> 
> Frisk and Sans did the fusion dance, and then were abducted by a goat.

_Flames burst from her paws and flew towards Frisk. The heat of the fire whizzed by her as she dodged several attacks. Then one hit her on the arm. It burned so bad. Frisk gave a loud cry of pain and clutched the burn with her good hand, the hand feeling so much cooler in comparison. Tears that had been building up finally fell down her face. She was so scared. The monster was going to kill her._

**‘Stop her before she can kill you!’**

_Frisk bit her lip and trembled, but she eventually complied. This was the only way to get out. Frisk attacked the monster with her stick, hitting her when she could. The monster took the blows easily, and after each receiving more hits from one another, finally the monster fell to her knees._

_The goat monster had wounds on her that were just now forming. Dust started swelling out. Despite that, the monster didn’t seem that upset. And as she spoke, she didn’t sound that upset either. As dust floated around her, she smiled at Frisk._

_“Be good… won’t you…?”_

_And then she fell into dust, leaving only her clothing behind. Frisk put a hand to her mouth in shock. She stepped back, cringing in pain as the burns on her were irritated._

‘W-wait…! I didn’t want to kill you! I just wanted to leave! I didn’t think…! I didn’t think that…!’

**‘What? Are you sorry she’s dead? She kidnapped you, didn’t she? She tried to kill you too. All you did was defend yourself. Killing in self-defense isn’t murder you know.’**

_Frisk gripped her stick to her chest, tears in her eyes again. She sniffed._ ‘Y-yeah… I guess so…’

_With a bit of reluctance, she moved on, nursing her burn wounds as she went._

* * *

Frisk jerked awake, hiccuping slightly as her eyes opened. Her maroon eyes darted around the room, trying to figure out where she was. Oh right. The bedroom. She was back in Toriel’s house.

 _‘Kid? You okay?’_

Frisk flinched when she heard Sans’ voice, etched with concern. She gripped the blanket around her as she calmed herself down and nodded. _‘Y-yeah. Just a bad dream. I’m fine.’_

Wait. The girl looked down at herself again and realized that there was a blanket over her body. She hadn’t fallen asleep with that before. She turned around to the bed she was leaning on, and found that the comforter was removed to be tucked around her. 

_‘Why is the blanket covering me?’_ Frisk asked in confusion.

Sans was able to give an answer. _‘Well, Toriel came in and I was about to wake you up, but she just tucked you in and left.’_

Frisk sat up, holding the blanket to her chest. It was nice and soft. Comforting. _‘Huh. That was nice of her. I guess Flowey was wrong about her after all.’_

 _‘...I'm not so sure. I mean, she_ did _lock us in here.’_

Frisk shrugged it off. That creepy feeling was just herself. Surely she was wrong again. _‘Maybe. But maybe she was scared that we would get hurt if we left.’_

Sans was silent. 

Wait. Was Sans… creeped out too? 

Frisk shook it off and tried to open the door again. The knob still didn’t move. _‘Still stuck though. What do we do?’_

_‘Dunno. We could train more if you want.’_

_‘Mm… not right now. I'm still a little tired from last time.’_

_‘Alright.’_

They were silent for a while. 

_‘So…’_ Sans started. _‘Wanna hear a joke?’_

Frisk smiled. _‘Sure why not?’_

_‘Why did the skeleton laugh at the joke?’_

_‘Why?’_

_‘Because it was_ humerus. _’_

Frisk giggled and rolled her eyes playfully. It was dumb, and overused, but she still enjoyed it.

 _‘Why didn't the skeleton go to the ball?’_ Sans continued. 

_‘Um… He had nobody to dance with?’_

_‘He didn’t have the_ guts _to find a dance partner.’_

That caught Frisk off guard. She put a hand to her mouth and giggled. 

_‘How did the skeleton know it was gonna rain?’_

_‘Hmm… He felt it in his bones?’_

_‘He read the weather forecast, ya idiot.’_

Frisk’s smile grew, but fell a second later when she heard the last two words. She forced out a chuckle. _‘O-oh. Hahah… G-good one.’_

Sans went quiet for a second. _‘...That was just a joke, kiddo. That’s… that’s how I tell that joke to everyone when they guess ahead. To catch them off, y’know?’_

Frisk’s eyes fell, and she began twiddling her fingers again. She forced a smile on her face. _‘Y-yeah. I-I get it. Good. It’s a good one.’_

…

… 

_‘...Why did the skeleton stay out in the snow all night?’_

_‘...Why?’_

_‘He was a numbskull.’_

Frisk chuckled softly, this time genuinely. _‘All of your jokes are skeleton jokes, aren't they?’_

 _‘...Maybe. … Ooh! I got another. My ex-wife still misses me, but her_ aim _is gettin’ better!’_

_‘...’_

_‘Her_ aim _is gettin’ better!’_

_‘...’_

_‘Y’see, i-it’s funny ‘cause marriage is terrible.’_

That part made Frisk laugh. _‘Okay, my turn. Want to hear two short jokes and a long joke?’_

_‘Sure.’_

_‘Joke joke jooooooooooke!”_

Sans laughed. _‘That was a good one!’_

_‘Here’s another. These two guys walk into a bar. Knock knock.’_

_‘Who’s there?’_

_‘The two guys who knocked their heads into a bar.’_

_‘Pfff ahaha!’_

And so the two continued to share jokes with one another. They were usually pretty cheesy, but Frisk couldn’t help but at least give a soft giggle every time. Some even made her laugh out loud:

_‘...So I asked my girlfriend if I’m the only one she’s been with, and she said, “Yeah. The others were nines and tens”.’_

That one took a second, but Frisk burst out into laughter. This continued on for a while, until they heard a knock on the door. 

“Child?” Toriel's voice came through the other side. “May I come in?”

...Why did Frisk suddenly have a pit in her stomach? She brushed it off. It was just her anyway. 

“Yes,” the girl called back out to her. 

The door opened to reveal Toriel once again, her red eyes holding that uneasy look to them. “I heard you laughing from down the hall and figured that you were awake.” The goat woman explained. “What were you laughing at?”

“Oh,” Frisk started. She didn’t realize that she was laughing that loud. Maybe the walls were thinner than she thought. “I was thinking of jokes I had heard and they made me laugh.”

Toriel gasped joyfully. “Jokes! I love jokes! Would you want to hear some?”

Frisk’s grin widened slightly at that. She gave an enthusiastic nod to the goat woman. 

“Alright,” Toriel began as she took a seat on the bed. “When does a joke become a dad joke?”

… 

What a weird start to a joke… “When?”

“When it leaves and never comes back!” Toriel laughed. 

…

Frisk laughed nervously. That joke was a bit… harsh. 

_‘... I’m startin’ to see where that weed was comin’ from.’_

Frisk wasn’t about to believe it though. _‘M-maybe she's just into dark humor…? It's a thing.’_ Frisk hoped. 

“What’s the difference between a box of bowling balls and a box of dead infants?” Toriel continued. 

Frisk forced herself to hold back a cringe. “I don’t know. What?”

“You cannot unload the box of bowling balls with a pitchfork!” Toriel tried to hold back a chuckle before giving in and bursting out laughing.

Frisk nervously laughed again. _‘Maybe you were onto something,’_ she admitted.

Toriel didn’t seem to notice Frisk’s discomfort, or if she did, she didn’t show it. The goat woman just continued. 

“Did you know that if you give a man a match, he will be warm for a few hours. But if you set a man on fire, and he will be warm for the rest of his life.”

Frisk once again forced herself to laugh. “Hahaha… I-I get it.” The girl didn’t pay much attention to what Toriel was saying now, especially since Sans was once again muttering to himself in her head. 

_‘Toriel never told me jokes like these before. Hers were always so cheesy and light hearted. She’s actin’ too out of character here…’_

_‘S-Sans, what’s going on?’_ Frisk asked him, having to simultaneously give another fake laugh at Toriel’s jokes. 

_‘...I still don’t know completely. I think I have a lead thoug—‘_

“Oh, I almost forgot,” the goat woman suddenly said, clapping her hands together. “I wanted to inform you of the rules I have under my roof.”

That caught Frisk off guard. “Huh? Rules?”

“Yes. They are all to keep you safe and to ensure that you will be a well behaved daughter. You will listen, will you not?”

 _‘...That doesn’t sound good,’_ Sans muttered in suspicion. 

Frisk…agreed. Sure, rules were a fair trade for staying in her home. She could handle a few until she was ready to leave. However… What was that about being a well-behaved _daughter?_

Despite her rising dread, Frisk nodded. 

“Oh good! You really are such a great daughter!” The goat woman praised. “My first rule is that you must obey everything I say. That should be a given, but I thought I should make it official. The next is that you mustn’t leave the house without my permission. Next, please do not go downstairs under any circumstances. Be polite. Do not break anything. Do not argue with me. Do not give me back talk. If I tell you to do something, do it right away. Listen to only me.”

Frisk could feel her heart sinking more and more as Toriel went on and on with these rules. Some were reasonable, but others… were concerning.

“If you break any of these rules, you _will_ be punished. And you will not enjoy it. And the final rule…” Toriel gave a pleased smile as she stared at Frisk. “Call me Mother. Do you understand?”

Her tone was threatening, and smug. It made Frisk feel uneasy. 

The girl gulped silently.

 _‘That_ definitely _doesn’t sound good,’_ Sans said. 

_‘Not good at all,’_ Frisk replied. 

Was she… actually _wrong_? That Toriel wasn’t the nice and kind and motherly woman that she had been told she was? But… that didn’t make sense. That couldn’t be true. Frisk was wrong. She was always wrong. She knew that. 

But she was wrong here too?

The girl was too scared to do anything but comply however. She nodded at Toriel again. 

“I need a verbal answer, my child.” The goat woman’s tone was threatening again, but still had that confident smug tone in it as well. 

“Y-yes ma’am. I understand,” Frisk replied. 

“Oh, very good, my child!” Toriel praised her again and patted her head. “You are so well behaved. Oh. I do believe that you have not told me your name. What is it?”

“F-Frisk…” the girl replied, feeling a bit of the claws on Toriel’s hands. Not enough to break the skin, but enough to be uncomfortable, verging on painful.

“What a peculiar name. Very special for my special child.”

Frisk nervously tugged on her sleeve and bit her lip. “...Thank you.”

Toriel scanned over the girl, almost like she was soaking in every bit of fear that she showed. It was as if she loved it. “Thank you, what?”

Frisk hesitated. “Thank you, M-Mother.”

Toriel grinned gleefully. “Very good, my child! Now how about we get you some better clothes. I cannot have my child dressed like that, can I?” Toriel got up and walked over to the wardrobe. “I am sure that I have something in your size here. The other children must have left something nice.”

Frisk blinked in realization, and she tried not to tremble. “...Other children…?”

“Yes, the ones before you.” Toriel didn’t elaborate.

 _‘How come everythin’ she says doesn’t sound good?’_ Sans questioned. _‘Kid, I think… I think this lady’s actually nuts. I_ actually _think the damn weed was right.’_

 _‘...B-but that can’t be true,’_ Frisk tried to argue, gripping her jacket in her hands in fear and confusion. _‘I-I was wrong before. So… she has to be good.’_

 _‘Kiddo…’_ Sans didn’t sound like he agreed with her. 

Frisk felt like she was being pulled in two directions. Was she right all along? Was she wrong? Sans said she was wrong back then, but now he said she was wrong here too? She didn’t understand.

Frisk took in a breath as she worked up the courage to ask. “M-Mother? Can I… ask you a question?”

“What is it, dear?” Toriel asked, still looking through the closet. 

“U-um… What… happened to the other children…?”

The goat woman stopped suddenly. She turned to face Frisk with a terrifying expression of subdued rage. Frisk whimpered and took a step back, and Toriel took a few steps forward to reach her, and grabbed the girl by the arm, her grip so tight that it actually did hurt Frisk this time. The girl gasped and whimpered in pain and terror as Toriel’s eyes bore down at her. 

“ D O N O T A S K T H A T Q U E S T I O N A G A I N . ”

Frisk trembled, eyes wide and tearing up in fear. Her throat got tight as she spoke. “Yes ma’am! I’m sorry! I won’t!”

Toriel’s terrifying expression almost immediately switched to a kind and nurturing one. She smiled and knelt down to the human’s level, letting her arm go and gently taking her hand. 

“Oh, I cannot stay mad at you! You are forgiven. Now let us find a dress for you to wear.”

Toriel turned back to the wardrobe and Frisk nearly fell to the floor out of dismay. She took a few slow breaths to calm her heart pounding in her chest. She could hear the blood in her ears. 

_‘Oh my god, Frisk, are you okay?!’_

It seemed that Sans was frightened by the goat woman as well. Panic was clear in his voice as he spoke to Frisk. The girl bit her lip and subtly nodded to silently tell him that she was fine. 

_‘Crap, she’s_ insane _. We can’t stay with her.’_

 _‘W… W-well…’_ Frisk started, still shaking slightly. _‘M-maybe if we do everything she says, and be on our best behavior, she won’t hurt us.’_

It was a good plan, she thought. As long as she was good, then nothing bad would happen. Besides, if she was bad, then she deserved it anyway, right? Toriel was being nice enough to let her stay in her home after all. The least she could do was abide by her rules. 

_‘Kid, that is a_ textbook _abusive relationship,’_ Sans told her sternly. _‘She’s clingin’ to you. She needs you, and she needs you to think that you need her.’_

Wait… 

...It _was_?

...Although, she had to admit, he _did_ make a good point. Toriel was clearly unstable. But before Frisk could dwell too long on the matter, the goat woman began talking to her again. 

“How about this dress?” Toriel asked as she pulled out an old fashioned looking girl’s outfit. “Doesn’t it look lovely?”

The dress looked like it belonged in the nineteenth century, with buttons and bows and frills. It almost seemed like a nightgown too, with white puffy sleeves, white collar and pink skirt. Frisk didn’t like it. She didn’t like anything girly honestly. She definitely didn’t like the color pink. But she was too scared to even disagree. Instead, she shyly nodded. She didn’t want to wear it, but she had no choice on the matter. And apparently Toriel liked that Frisk did nothing to disagree. She squealed and gave her a hug. 

“Oh, you are the best behaved child I have had in a long while! Go ahead and change out of your clothes and I will go fetch you some shoes and stockings.”

Toriel pat Frisk’s head again, gave her the dress and left the room, locking the door behind her. Frisk was left staring at the closed door, hesitating to move an inch. Finally she faced the bed where the dress was laid out. 

_‘That thing looks hideous,’_ Sans stated. 

Frisk nodded in agreement. _‘I don’t want to wear it. I really don’t. But… I’m scared of what will happen if I don’t.’_

_‘Kid…’_

Frisk swallowed a nervous lump in her throat and began changing out of her clothes. She didn’t want to risk Toriel taking them away forever though, so she made sure to hide them. Then she started putting on the dress. It was a bit too small for her. Not so small that it was cutting off blood circulation, but definitely enough to be uncomfortable. Some of her joints were stiff, but at least the skirt went down to her knees. Just as Frisk managed to put it on, Toriel came back in the room with white stockings and black shoes in her hands. Once the goat woman saw her, she beamed and clapped happily. 

“You look beautiful, my child! Now let us put on the stockings.”

Frisk tried not to cry when Toriel helped her put in the stockings. They were also a bit tight on her, but it wasn’t as noticeable as the dress. Then Toriel grabbed the shoes. 

“Here. I’ll put them on for you,” Toriel said as she began fitting them on her feet. 

Frisk winced when Toriel tried fitting them on. They were much too small for her. Her toes were cramped and the heel rubbed against her ankle. Frisk tried not to hiss as Toriel tried to fit them on her feet. 

_‘Ow, ow, what are those?! Medieval torture devices?!’_ Sans complained.

 _‘Feels like it,’_ Frisk replied. 

The goat woman hummed in thought. “These are too small for you. I suppose you can go without shoes for the time being. Is that alright, my child?”

Frisk nodded, silently thanking her for not having to wear those torture shoes. 

_‘Thank god.’_

“Now, let us fix up your hair.” Toriel grabbed a brush and sat Frisk on the bed before she took out the girl’s ponytail and began combing through it. “By the way, my child. You love me, right?”

Frisk gulped and nodded. 

“Verbal answer please.”

“Y-yes, Mother. I l-love you.”

“Good girl. I will be your Mother from now on, okay?”

“...Yes, Mother.”

“So tell me, my child. What were your _old parents_ like? Were they as great as me?” Toriel nearly spat in disgust as she said ‘old parents’.

Frisk felt her heart sink again. She bit her lip again and clenched her fists, hesitating to answer. “I-I… don’t… remember them…”

Toriel stopped brushing her hair. “You do not remember?”

Frisk shook her head, trying desperately not to shake in fear. 

“Oh you poor child!” Toriel wrapped her arms around the girl in an overjoyed hug. “Do not fret! I will be the best mother! You do not have to worry about them anymore!”

Frisk gave a small sigh of relief. She had thought that Toriel might have been mad at her, but she was glad that she wasn’t. “Th-Thank you, Mother…”

 _‘Wait, do you seriously not remember them?’_ Sans asked Frisk as Toriel went back to combing her hair. 

_‘No, of_ course _I remember them! I just didn’t want to say something that might make her mad.’_

Sans gave a defeated sigh. _‘Well, mission accomplished.’_

Toriel finished with Frisk’s hair and brought her to the mirror. “Look how beautiful you are, my child.”

Frisk stood in front of the mirror, staring back at the girl in it. Her hair was pulled into short pigtails, and her eyes were filled with terror. The dress didn’t fit in many places, and her stockings fit tight on her legs. 

“I couldn’t ask for a better daughter,” Toriel ran her fingers through Frisk’s hair. “So well behaved. So smart. Well! Come with me, and we shall eat dinner together!”

Toriel took her by the hand and pulled her out of the bedroom. Frisk was pulled along, having to rush a bit to keep up with her. She was just glad that there was no one else in the home. She hated what she was wearing, and she didn’t want to be seen in it by anyone. Toriel led her into the dining room and picked her up before placing her on the chair, a chair that she easily could have gotten in by herself. 

“Now be a good girl and wait here while I get dinner, okay?”

Frisk nodded again. “Y-Yes, Mother.”

Toriel smiled and went into the kitchen. 

Frisk’s lip quivered as she tried to hold in her tears. She bit her lip again to hold back a sob. Her eyes faced her lap where her hands were, along with what she could see of the dress. 

_‘Hey, hey, kid, we’re goin’ to get out of here,’_ Sans told her. _‘All we have to do is play along until we see an opening. When we do, we can run like hell and we’ll never have to see her again.’_

Frisk wiped away a stray tear and gave a subtle nod. _‘I-I… I feel like a_ doll _. Just used to be played with.’_

_‘I know, but we’ll get out.’_

_‘B-but… Sans, I’m too scared to try! What if we fail and she punishes us? I-I don’t want to get hurt!’_

_‘Yeah, but ironically that’s an even better reason to leave. Frisk, this is textbook abusive behavior. You_ can’t _let her win.’_

_‘But… there has to be something good about her, right? Maybe… Maybe she really does love me and just shows it differently?’_

_‘Frisk—’_

“The food is ready!”

Toriel’s voice cutting in made Frisk jump up. Frisk took in a breath to calm herself down a bit before Toriel could see her. She watched from the kitchen as the goat woman came in holding a badly burned pie, most of the color black and ashy. 

Frisk grimaced at the sight, but forced a smile on her terrified face. _‘At least she tried.’_

Sans gave a grunt.

“It’s one of my favorites!” Toriel explained. “Snail pie!”

 _‘Snail...?’_ Frisk echoed. She internally sighed. _‘Well, in France snails are food, so maybe it’s not so bad.’_

 _‘What’s France?’_ Sans asked her.

 _‘Eh… explanations for later.’_ Frisk smiled politely for Toriel. “Th-thank you, Mother! It looks like you put a lot of effort into this!”

“Indeed I did, young one,” Toriel nodded enthusiastically. “This pie is all for you, so go on and eat up!” 

Then she gave Frisk the entire pie as well as a slightly bent fork. 

Frisk looked down at the pie, and hesitantly grabbed the utensil. Did she want her to eat the whole thing?

“...Right now?” 

Toriel nodded. “Yes. Now go on. I want to know what you think.”

Frisk looked down at the pie. It didn’t seem that appetizing, but she hadn’t eaten in a while, and burnt food was better than no food. She took a forkful and shoved it into her mouth. Immediately she regretted it when she tasted the horrible pie. It tasted like nothing more than charcoal and ash. Still, she forced the abomination down her throat. She put on a fake smile and gave a weary thumbs up.

“Mm! S-so good, Mother! Thank you…”

“It was no problem at all, my dear. I made sure to cook it with my own fire magic, since I wanted it to be made with my burning passion. But in the ingredients, I found enough snails for the pie, but I ran out of flour for the crust, so I just used monster dust instead! It was much easier.”

Frisk suddenly felt sick to her stomach. _‘Did she say what I think she said?’_

 _‘Spit it out spit it out spit it out!’_ Sans yelled.

 _‘I already swallowed it!’_ Frisk cried. _‘I don’t want to be a monster killer_ and _eater!’_

_‘The eatin’ part wasn’t your fault. Just PLEASE don’t eat any more!’_

Toriel continued. “Well go on, my child. Finish your food.”

 _‘Crap!’_ Sans yelled. 

_‘Sans, what do I do? I’m freaking out!’_

_‘Uh… t-tell her you're not hungry. Maybe she’ll give you a pass.’_

Frisk agreed. “U-um... Mother… I’m not very hungry right now. Is it okay if I eat it later?”

Toriel blinked. “Not hungry? But you are so thin. You need more food in you. Otherwise you won’t grow big and strong.”

“I’m sorry, but I, uh… ate just before I fell down here. I’m still a bit full.”

Toriel shook her head. “No making excuses, my child. You must eat or you will not survive.” The goat woman took the pie can and the fork before taking a piece. “Now open your mouth and _eat_.”

Frisk took a wary step back. “T-Toriel-“

“I told you to call me Mother!” Toriel roared. “And as your mother, you must obey my rules! Now eat your food!”

She grabbed ahold of Frisk’s arm and pulled the girl closer to her. Frisk struggled and gave a yelp. Toriel seized the opportunity and stuck the fork in the human’s mouth before forcing it shut with her giant hand. Frisk gave muffled screams and tried to pry the hand off, but to no avail. 

_‘Sans! I don’t want this! Make her stop!’_

Sans, however, was unable to do anything. He didn’t even respond anymore. He went silent in minute horror at what they were being forced to do. 

Frisk was forced to swallow and finally got the hand off of her mouth. She gasped for air. Her face was pulled in again towards another bite. Frisk forced her mouth closed as much as she could, but Toriel’s fingers pried them open and stuck another bite in her mouth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So Toriel’s insane. Yay. Who woulda thought that this Underfell fanfic was gonna be dark? 
> 
> After spending so much time alone, Toriel kinda... went a bit crazy. Once a human falls, she needs them for company, and won’t let them go, under any means necessary. 
> 
> So, I got the idea of Toriel acting like this from a dream I had a while back. Basically I was Six from Little Nightmares, and The Lady was acting all crazy and wanted Six to act like “the perfect daughter”. Which is scary, but also weird since it turns out that Six isn’t actually The Lady’s daughter. Years of fan theories out the window thanks to Tarsier. But back to the story. I actually took direct quotes from my dream and wrote them in the chapter. The one asking about the previous kids was the best example I can think of. I wrote it basically word for word.
> 
> Oh also! I made a short Undertale animation on my YouTube channel. Check it out here and subscribe if you want:
> 
> https://youtu.be/nQE_D8B_MR0


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The name of the story is now officially changed to “A Soul’s Descent”. Unless you’re a future reader and have only know this story by this name. In which case...
> 
> Mandatory recap of the last chapter:
> 
> Sans became a cannibal.

Frisk hid herself under the bed, crying as silently as she could. Toriel had force-fed her almost the entire pie, and she could still taste it. After being force-fed, Toriel threw the girl back into the bedroom and locked the door. 

Frisk sniffed and hugged herself. _‘Why did she do this to us? There has to be good in her, right? There has to be.’_

Sans hesitated for a moment as Frisk continued to sob. 

_‘I… I hate to be the one to tell you, kid, but I don’t think so.’_ Sans sighed. _‘I-I...I’m sorry I didn’t help you before, when she...you know. My mind… I was in shock.’_

Frisk hugged herself. _‘I don’t really blame you. If I was forced to eat another human, I probably would have been too scared to react too.’_

Sans grunted. 

Frisk closed her eyes. _‘I don’t think that it’s fair to punish you, though.’_

_‘Wha—? Punish? What do you mean?’_

_‘...I did really bad things in the last timeline,’_ Frisk explained. _‘This is probably just my punishment for it. But it’s not fair that you have to be punished too.’_

Sans was silent a moment, as if he was processing what she was saying. 

_‘See? You know I deserve it too, don’t you?’_

_‘N-no, I…!’_ He trailed off. _‘...Yes, I’m upset that you killed everyone. But I think that it’s punishment enough that I killed you several times, let alone the guilt you carry. I don’t think that_ this _should be your punishment for_ that _. You’re trying to do better, so I don’t think it’s fair that you have to suffer in this timeline.’_

Frisk opened her eyes, allowing a few more tears to fall. _‘Why? You couldn’t have just forgiven me that easily.’_

_‘I’m stuck here. I have no choice but to forgive you. And I figured that I should do it sooner rather than later.’_

_‘But your brother—‘_

_‘Is alive in this timeline. At least I hope so. Maybe I can’t be a brother to him like before, but… as long as he’s alive, I don’t really care that much.’_

Frisk fell silent now. The two of them were like that for a long time. Then the girl spoke up. _‘You… We have to get out of here. Y… W-We can’t stay for much longer.’_

_‘You’re right. Check the door.’_

Frisk got out from under the bed and walked to the door, attempting to turn the knob. “Locked.”

_‘Break it down with a bone attack.’_

_‘...But what if she hears us?’_ The girl worried. 

_‘Then we’ll have to fight our way out.’_

Frisk’s eyebrows furrowed now. _‘I don’t want to fight her, Sans. I don't want to kill her, even if she's mean. I did it last time, and I don't want to do it again.’_

_‘This is different than last time, kid! She's not a good person!’_ Sans argued. _‘You said it yourself, you hate her treatin’ you like a doll! That and she’s obviously unhinged. It doesn't matter if we kill her or not, we just have to leave.’_

“It matters to me!” 

Silence. 

_‘I don't care if she's evil this time around. I want to be better. I want to spare.’_

There was silence again, before Sans finally sighed. _‘Alright. If she hears you, try runnin’ or talkin’ to her. Maybe you can out run her or convince her that you need to leave peacefully.’_

Frisk nodded, already shaking in anticipation. “Okay. Run-and-live, or peace talks. I can handle that. But first, I’m changing out of these clothes.”

_‘Good idea.’_

Frisk slowly managed to pull the dress off of her and changed back into her old clothes. If she really was escaping for good, she didn’t want to be dressed in _that_ abomination. Then she pulled out her pigtails and took the hair tie to make a single ponytail. Once she was ready, 

The girl focused and summoned a bone attack. She still wasn’t very good at aiming yet, so she just grabbed it instead and hit the door handle. The knob came off and the door creaked open. She peeked outside, seeing nothing in the empty hallway. Quietly, she tiptoed out and down the hall until she reached the stairway. In the other room, she could hear Toriel singing a song as she worked on something. Frisk took this opportunity to sneak down the old, musty and moldy stairs. 

The hallway below was dark, much more menacing than it was in the last run. Still, it was their only way out.

She was almost all the way down when the plank below her broke, a loud crack echoing throughout the house. Frisk gave a yelp as she fell to the bottom of the stairs and onto the cold cement floor. 

Toriel stopped her singing. 

Loud booming footsteps were heard from the floor above Frisk.

_‘Run!’_ Sans yelled. 

Frisk scrambled to her feet and bolted down the long hallway, limping slightly at the pain in her foot from the fall. Why was this always so _long_?! She could hear loud footsteps behind her. 

A fireball whizzed past her head, just barely avoiding her hair, making Frisk yelp and jerk her head away from the heat. 

“Get back here my child! You are not allowed down here! I will count to three!”

Frisk continued running.

“One!”

Frisk almost tripped over herself. 

“Two!”

Frisk panted as she sprinted as fast as she could. 

“THREE!”

A burning sensation hit her directly on her back and she fell to the floor, rolling over herself before coming to a stop. Her nose and lip were definitely bleeding from the impact on the floor, and her legs were scratched in some places. The world was buzzing around her. Everything hurt, yet it was numb. Where was she…?

_‘A-agh—! K-Kid?! Kid, stay with me! You have to get up! She'll kill you!’_

Frisk heard Sans’ cries, his noises as he reacted to the pain, but she was too out of it to react. She felt light, even though she was lying against the floor. 

A large hand grabbed her upper arm and began to drag her back to where she came from. Up the splintered stairs and back through the hallway. But not to her room. Toriel went passed the bedroom, passed her room and into the last and third room. She unlocked it in several places before opening it and dragging Frisk inside. 

It was dark, only a single light source hanging from the ceiling. There were reddish-brown stains covering the floor and walls. 

“You did not obey my commands,” Toriel sneered. “Do you not love me? Is that it? Do you want to die out there?”

Toriel pulled Frisk to one of the walls and set her down there. The goat woman grabbed Frisk’s wrists and chained them above her head, causing Frisk to give a small whimper. The girl still had no idea what was happening. All she knew was that she was downstairs, and now she was somewhere dark.

Toriel stood back and walked to the door. “You may come out when you have learned to be a loving daughter.” She closed the door behind her, several clicks indicating that she had locked it. 

Frisk, only half conscious now, began sobbing again. Her face and legs were in pain. The chains holding her wrists were too tight. The room was spinning. Her body felt light and heavy at the same time. 

_‘Frisk. Can you hear me?’_ Sans asked her, as softly as he could. 

Frisk gave no response, verbal or physical. She only continued to sob. “There has to be good in her… there has to be good in her… there _has_ to… there has to…” she mumbled on and on, and slowly it turned incoherent. 

Frisk passed out. 

* * *

Frisk woke up to a knock at the door. It disturbed her migraine, and she stirred with a moan. She didn’t recognize where she was at first. It was too dark to make anything out anyway. The door opened, light pouring in from the hallway, revealing Toriel. She stood, holding an empty jar in one hand, and a new pie in the other. 

It was hard to tell from the shadows cast on her face, but Frisk thought she could make out a kind smile on the goat woman’s face.

“Good morning, my child,” she greeted warmly. “Have you learned your lesson?”

Instead of answering, Frisk began sobbing again. Everything hurt. Her body, her head, her heart, her _soul_. She was tired, and confused. Tears rolled down her cheeks. 

Toriel frowned in sorrow. Well, not quite sorrow… Displeasure? Slight annoyance? She set her items down on the floor and knelt in front of Frisk. 

“Now now, my child,” she soothed. “I know that this is difficult, but this was the fastest way to show you how much I care for you. Out there, you would have been killed, so I had to punish you to teach you to never leave me.”

Frisk sobbed. She didn’t want this. This wasn’t what a parent was supposed to do to punish their child. Yet… she deserved it, she supposed...

Toriel continued. “Now I must do something for you. This will hurt only for a moment, but I promise this is for your own good.” 

Toriel pulled out a cloth and tied it around Frisk’s mouth to muffle her. Frisk didn’t even try to refuse. Then Toriel pulled off the cap from the jar she had and set it back down again before she pulled up something else from her pocket. It was shiny. Metallic. Sharp. 

Frisk’s maroon eyes widened. 

A _knife_. 

As soon as the human saw the blade she started screaming and trying to get away. Her legs kicked, but Toriel forced them down on the ground. 

“I know this is scary, my dear,” Toriel told her, smile still on her face as if she was oblivious to the girl’s horror. “But I must do this. It will be over soon.”

She gently sunk the blade into Frisk’s uncovered thigh, causing the girl to let out another muffled scream. Toriel removed the blade and began catching the blood in the jar. She sat there until the jar was full and screwed the lid shut.

“There. All done.” Toriel placed the jar to the side. “That was in case you ever get seriously injured in the future. Blood is used to help heal a human, and it works better if it is your own blood. That is why you humans die if you lose too much.” She untied the gag and took it out of Frisk’s mouth. 

Frisk didn’t understand. If that was the case, then why hurt her in the first place? It seemed almost paradoxical in her mind. 

Toriel set the new pie in her lap. This pie seemed better cooked than the other one, only a few burned places here and there, but Frisk knew that it was not a good idea to eat it. 

“This pie will help heal you,” Toriel explained. “I know that humans do not like to drink blood, so I baked it into a pie instead. This should taste much better!”

Frisk frantically shook her head. “N-no! Please! I-I don’t want it!”

“But you need it. And if you do not eat it then I will leave you in here for a week without _anything_. _Understand_ , my child?”

Frisk sobbed again, staring at the pie in front of her. 

_‘Kid, I’m sorry, but…’_ Sans really didn’t want to say this. _‘You_ have _to eat it. She’s right that consumin’ human blood will restore your health. I mean… there’s some more complexity to it, but it still works to an extent. It's just that no one ever does it unless it’s an emergency… for obvious reasons.’_

Tears flowed down Frisk’s face. _‘N-no, I can’t! I can’t do it! Th-that would make me a c-c-cannibal! I-I-I don’t want that!’_

Sans sighed somberly. _‘Frisk… I’m sorry. I really,_ really _am.’_

Frisk bit her lip, her body trembling. She wanted desperately to shake her head. To yell no. To do anything to make it stop. But, eventually, she gave a nod. 

Toriel beamed with delight and grabbed a forkful of pie. “There’s a good girl! Now open your mouth~” 

Frisk’s mouth parted open slowly. Toriel put the bite in her mouth, and the girl held it there for a moment, before chewing the blood covered crust and swallowing. The irony taste was overwhelming, but she forced herself to continue eating. Her wounds began to heal slowly the more she ate. Despite that, she felt sick to her stomach. 

Sans kept telling her, _‘I’m sorry, I’m sorry,’_ over and over again. 

Sans wished he had a physical form. If he could, he would have been holding and stroking her hand to try and reassure her. 

Once she was finally done eating, there was blood dripping down her mouth and onto her clothes, though it wasn’t her own. Tears stained her face as she slumped against the wall, defeated. 

Toriel smiled brightly and was quick to clean her up with a wet towel before unchaining her. “You did so well, my child! I’ll take you back to your room now since you were so well behaved.”

Toriel lifted the girl up in her arms and carried her out the door, down the hall and into the bedroom again. Frisk just bit her lip and trembled against the goat woman who held her. 

“Oh, you poor thing! You are shaking!” Toriel said as she held onto the girl. “You should get some more rest. After eating the whole pie, your stomach must be stuffed, and you must be exhausted.”

Even though Frisk was terrified beyond relief, she had to admit that her full stomach made her sleepy. Though she doubted that she would actually be able to get any sleep with her current state of mind. 

Frisk gulped before speaking. “...N...No th-thank you…”

“Oh but I insist! Here. I will sleep with you and sing you a lullaby. That way you will feel safe.”

Frisk’s maroon eyes widened. Her heart sunk in her chest, and suddenly she forgot how to breathe. 

Toriel already had made her way over to the bed. Carefully cradling Frisk with one arm, she used the other to pull down the covers. She sat down on the bed with Frisk in her lap before pulling the covers up over them. 

Frisk was too terrified to move. She was too scared to breathe. All she could do was tremble as Toriel held her, stroking her head and humming a tune. 

_“It’s time for sleep my little one_

_Fly away in dreams_

_And I will be there to watch over you_

_I’ll hold you and sing you a lullaby tune”_

Frisk felt her eyes begin to fill with tears. 

_“All the stars will light your way_

_As you drift asleep_

_Dreaming sweetly your wildest dreams_

_Close your eyes with you head on my chest_

_Smiling”_

Frisk’s stomach felt sick. 

_“And though the world is a cold place for you and for I_

_I will be there for you holding you tight_

_And in the morning the sun rising high up above_

_Will awaken you gently with my love_

_And though your dreams may take flight and be gone with the day_

_Now in your dreams, in my arms you are safe_

_So in the moonlight remember I love you always_

_My sweet sunshine’s ray_

_My little baby”_

Frisk forced her eyes closed as she pretended to fall asleep there with the goat woman holding her. In reality, her mind was buzzing with so many emotions, she couldn’t think straight. 

Toriel gave another hum in the form of a delighted sigh. She continued to stroke the girl’s hair as they laid in bed. Frisk just stayed as still as she could. They stayed like this for a long time, with Toriel pleased with herself, and Frisk terrified. They stayed there so long that somehow Frisk had actually managed to fall asleep. 

* * *

When Frisk awoke, she found that Toriel was still there, still holding her. She was awake as well, though it was unclear if she had been awake the whole time or had just gotten up a little while ago. 

“Ah, you are awake, my child,” Toriel said. “How was your sleep?”

Frisk felt her eyes fill with tears again, and she bit her lip. “...F...Fine…”

“That is good.” The goat woman got out of the bed and stood up. “I will go make you something to eat. Stay here and be good until then.”

Toriel left the room and closed the door behind her, the click of a lock easily heard. 

Once she had left, Frisk practically threw herself out of the bed and onto the floor. Frisk couldn’t take it anymore. She wailed into her arm, hoping to muffle herself so Toriel wouldn’t hear her. Tears streamed down her face again.

Frisk felt sick to her stomach. She desperately wanted to vomit. She had not only become a monster eater, but a… a _cannibal_ as well. Her mind went wild thinking of who that poor human was that she ate. How old were they? Were they male or female? How did they die? Was it quick? Was it torturously long? She hoped it was short. Was it even only one person? Did Toriel mix in other human blood as well, like running out of flour, and opening up and pouring in a new bag? 

The thought of Toriel putting multiple humans in a blender made Frisk’s entire body numb. She already couldn’t feel her legs. 

Then Toriel just acted so nonchalant about it, like Frisk was just being a kid scared to get a shot from the doctor. As if getting a small needle stuck in her arm for a few seconds even _compared_ to this. But Toriel just picked her up and brought her back into the bedroom like it never happened. Like Frisk just had a bad dream and wanted comfort before going back to sleep. 

Frisk didn’t even know _how_ she managed to fall asleep again. Being trapped in a bed, with Toriel just stroking her like a pet. She didn’t know how she could fall asleep at a time like that. That horrified her even more. Was she too _horrible_ and too _weak_ to react appropriately to the situation? Was she _just that bad_ _of a person_?

While all of these thoughts ran through her as she cried, Sans remained silent through it all. He once again wished for a physical form. He wanted to pull her into a reassuring hug. To stroke her head and tell her reassurances. To tell her that it wasn’t her fault. _Anything_. 

Was this how she felt in the previous timeline? Was she this terrified? He saw her scared of everything as she had gone through the Underground. He wished he could have understood her better back then. He always felt his big-brother-senses tingling when he was around her. That he needed to comfort her, like he did with Papyrus when he was scared or hurt. Sans had forced himself not to though, since he didn’t know her that well for her to trust him, and his opinion of her dropped more and more the more she killed. 

He should’ve made an effort to understand her better. 

… 

Maybe none of this would be happening if he did. 

Frisk hiccuped and pulled her knees to her chest, hiding her face in her arms.

_‘I don’t want this!’_ She cried. _‘I don’t want this! I can’t—! I can’t take it anymore!’_

Sans didn’t know what to do. He was just as horrified as her. He no longer had his own body. What should he…? What _could_ he do? Well, he knew that he needed to give her comfort. He had to be the adult and take charge.

_‘Hey. It’ll be okay. We’ll get through this. We’ll get out and leave this place together. We don’t need her. We have each other. Okay?’_

Frisk bit her trembling lip again, letting a few more tears shed, and nodded. 

Sans was silent for a moment while he hatched a plan. How to go about this…?

They could try escaping down the hallway again. That could lead to Toriel running after them again though, and he wanted to avoid the goat woman if at all possible. Frisk didn’t want to fight, and even then, Toriel was strong, so there was no guarantee that they could defeat her in one, or even a few tries.

They could wait a couple days, memorizing Toriel’s routine and attempt an escape at the largest window of opportunity. However, he didn’t want Frisk to have to go through a few more days of potentially torture. 

Then there was Sans’ best option. His magic. That was the best choice he could come up with. Straightforward and effective. Finally, Sans prepared for his explanation. 

_‘Alright. I know a way to get outta here without havin’ to fight her. We're gonna take a shortcut.’_

…

Frisk sniffed, slowly pulling her head up in confusion. _‘Shortcut?’_

‘ _It's kinda like teleportin’. Basically, just focus really hard on a place you'd like to go and know the exact location of. And you can't stop thinkin’ about it ‘til you’re completely there.’_

‘... _Okay,’_ Frisk hesitantly agreed. She wiped her sleeve over her face to dry in her tears. _‘Is there a limit?’_

_‘Well you can't go too far, ‘cause you'll be really exhausted if you do. Using too much at a time drains the magic from you, and can leave you fatigued.’_

Frisk’s eyes fell downward again as she processed the information, then she nodded. _‘A-alright. Just give me a moment.’_

The girl shakingly stood up, almost falling over once, and went over to the desk. She picked up a broken pencil, found a piece of paper, and began to write on it. Once Frisk was done, she put down the pencil and read it over.

Toriel

I’m sorry that you’re finding it out like this, but I’m leaving. I don’t plan to come back either. I’m not doing this to hurt you. I don’t want to hurt you. But I have to leave. I hope that one day that you can find true happiness. 

With everlasting love,

—Frisk

Honestly, Frisk didn’t think that her note was good in the slightest, but she wasn’t going to spend more than an hour on this to try and get her message as clear as possible. 

Taking a slow deep breath, she stood tall. _‘I'm ready.’_

_‘Alright.’_ Sans said. _‘To get out the fastest without havin’ to go too far, think of the door leadin’ out to the ruins. Just imagine yourself a few steps away from the door.’_

Frisk nodded and closed her eyes, trying to focus all of her energy into it. It only took a few seconds before she felt a small buzz over her body. Suddenly she was overwhelmed with a sensation of lightheaded dizziness and nausea.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Interesting fact, when coming up with writing the note, I actually spent a lot of time trying to figure out what I wanted Frisk to say. Then I realized that she would probably struggle to come up with what she wanted to say as well, so I just went with it. 
> 
> Also, when writing the scene with Frisk thinking over eating the blood pie, I went into how I personally felt about that stuff. I’ve always been interested in true crime shows, but sometimes they get a little... gory and intense. I just wrote down how I always feel when I watch that kind of stuff: numbness all over and not being able to feel my legs. 
> 
> True crime is... great... (they said sarcastically)


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mandatory recap of the last chapter:
> 
> Frisk became a cannibal.

The world reappeared around her, nearly blinding her with the white snow covering everything. Almost instantly Frisk collapsed on her hands and knees as the nausea forced her to regurgitate what she had eaten last: the bloodied pie.

The irony taste came back full force, with now an added acidic tint. She hacked up all that she could for what felt like forever, then gasped for breath when she was done, staring down at the bloody pool below her. She felt nauseous again, and after shakingly moving over to the side, she collapsed completely on the snow just to the left of the red puddle. 

Frisk couldn’t tell if her vision was blacking out or whiting out as she stared at nothing as she breathed heavily. 

_‘...I-I thought you said I wouldn't be exhausted if I didn't teleport too far...’_ she said with a pained whine. 

_‘Ngh… What I meant to say was that the farther you teleport the more exhausted you get. It's also more tirin’ the first few times you do it. Eventually your body should get used to it and not experience as much trauma.’_

Frisk just continued to catch her breath and sighed. _‘...Well, at least I don’t have_ that _in my stomach anymore.’_

It took a while for Frisk to gather up her energy again. The nausea was slowly fading, and when she felt it was good enough, she pushed herself up and wobbly stood.

‘ _Let's get movin’. This world’s version of me should be here,’_ Sans warned her. 

_‘Okay.’_

Frisk managed to stand completely and started walking down the path, shivering all the while. Jeez, was it always this cold? She didn’t remember it being so cold last time. Then again, she had fallen practically face first on the snow, her bare gut exposed. So _maybe_ that’s why she was freezing. The girl quickly zipped up her jacket and stuffed her hands in the pockets, trying to warm up. 

As she walked, she passed the thick branch on the path without giving it a second thought. However, after a few more steps she heard a loud crack and turned around, only to see the branch broken in half. 

Unlike the last run, however, she wasn’t as scared as last time, mostly because now she knew it was only supposed to be a prank. So instead of being surprised, she just furrowed her eyebrows. 

_‘You did that last time too,’_ she commented. 

_‘Yeah, but we dunno how dangerous this me is. Let's keep movin’.’_

Frisk gave a subtle nod and started walking again. As she walked, she kept getting glimpses of a shadow in the trees, but she didn't flinch. Finally, once she made it to the bridge and barricade, she heard a somewhat familiar voice from behind her. 

“Human.” 

The voice was so similar to Sans’, but slightly deeper. 

Frisk froze. 

“Dontcha know how t’ greet a new pal?” he continued. “Turn ‘round, and shake my hand.”

Oh. And his accent was heavier too. Frisk did as she was told and turned around to face him. 

This new Sans definitely looked different from the one she knew. His overall outfit was kept relatively similar, with his jacket, sweater and athletic shorts, but each had a different color scheme. His once white sweater was now a deep red, his jacket now black with yellow trim and fluffy yellow hood, and the white stripes on his shorts were now yellow as well. A more major change was that his pink house slippers were replaced with red and yellow sneakers. 

Finally there was his face. His teeth were sharpened to points as if to imitate a shark’s, with one tooth replaced with a gold replica. Lastly—possibly the only thing that was exactly the same as her Sans— was his eye lights that were simple white dots. 

_(Why did everyone dress like they belong on team RWBY…?)_

Frisk must have been noting the differences between the two skeletons for too long, since the new Sans gave a chuckle at her. 

“Take a picture, Dollface,” he said with an amused smirk. “It lasts longer.”

Frisk blinked as she was pulled back into the present. “O-oh. S-sorry…”

It was subtle, but she could see that his bone brow quirked up quizzically. “...S’fine, Sweetheart. Now, ya gonna shake my hand ‘er what? S’rude t’ leave someone hangin’.”

“R-right.” She reached her hand out to his. 

_‘Wait! Kid—!’_

Sans’ warning came too late. The new Sans gripped Frisk’s hand and the girl felt a huge jolt all over her body. The pain grew worse and worse, electrifying her. 

* * *

Holy _crap,_ that was a lot of blood she had spat up. How was she not dead from that? The better question is where did she come from? He had been leaning against the door, minding his own business, when suddenly she just appeared out of nowhere _right in front of him_. 

He was lucky that she was facing away from him so that he could shortcut outta there like hell without being noticed. Still he observed her from behind the line of trees. He was curious about her. This _human._ Did she have magic? How else would you explain her popping into existence there. But humans don’t really have magic. So how did she?

He’d have to keep an eye socket on her. He didn’t know what she was capable of. 

Too bad he forgot to turn the buzzer to “stun”, not “kill”. 

* * *

**Load**

Frisk gasped and sat up, shaking slightly. 

_‘...Let’s not shake his hand this time,’_ Sans told her. 

She shakingly nodded and hesitantly walked through the forest again, zipping up her jacket again and hugging her arms. 

_‘D-do… Do you think he remembers the… the “resets” too?’_

Sans didn’t answer right away. _‘I dunno. Honestly, I’m kinda hopin’ that he doesn’t…’_

Frisk agreed. 

She was quick to make it back to the barricade again, and the voice came from behind her again. 

“Human. Dontcha know how t’ greet a new pal? Turn ‘round, and shake. My. Hand.”

...Was his tone different from last time…?

Frisk turned around, but kept her hands at her sides. “I-I’m sorry, but I can’t. I have a uh... a cold. I don’t want to get you sick.”

It was flimsy, but it was the best excuse she could come up with in such a short time. 

The skeleton in red stared at her for a moment, examining her. then he smirked at her. “Really? Is that so?” 

Frisk suddenly felt a sharp pain through her hand that jerked her arm up, making her cry at the agonizing pain. A sharp bone attack had come through the ground and stabbed her all the way through her palm, coming out on the other side. The bone quickly retreated back into the ground, jerking her arm down slightly with it, but released and allowed the girl to clutch her hand.

The Sans’ grin wided. “Well, aren’t _you_ friggin’ stupid. Doll, in this world, it's kill ‘r be killed.” He shrugged. “But don't worry. I'll give ya a twenty second head start.”

Frisk maroon eyes went wide, and she immediately took off running into the forest to escape. She grabbed her bleeding hand, forcing down a pained cry as she tried to cover the wound. 

_‘Sans, what do I do?!’_

She could already feel the rage building up from Sans. _‘...I know you don't wanna fight, so for now I suggest that you run and hide. If he finds you though, you might have to attack.’_

 _‘I'm_ not _going to fight him.’_

Sans didn’t reply.

As Frisk ran past the trees, she could hear a distant “Ready or not, here I come!” from the Red. 

The girl quickly hid behind a thick tree trunk and sat down, trying to catch her breath. She was still exhausted from the shortcut she had taken only a few minutes ago. She looked down at her hand, eyes watering at the sight of her own bones and flesh that was visible in the hole, though thankfully mostly covered up by the dark red hue of blood. She never thought she’d be happier to just see blood instead of… other stuff…

Frisk tried to think of how to go about this. She had seen movies and survived shows about this kind of thing. She had to cut off the blood circulation to stop the bleeding. But how? She looked around, only to find tree trunks, rocks, and snow. Frisk gave a soft sob at the hopelessness. She needed rope or something of the sorts. Her jacket could _maybe_ work? If she had a way to cut the fabric into a thinner strap. And she knew she wasn’t strong enough to rip it. 

Frisk hiccuped, shutting her eyes tight and letting the tears fall,

_‘S-Sans, I-I'm scared…!’_

_‘I know, kid. I know.’_ He was trying to sound soothing, as if he could somehow calm her down. 

The girl looked at the hole again, blood covering practically everything now, as she saw it. Her vision was slowly getting blurry, and she was getting lightheaded as well. She heard footsteps from a distance getting closer, and Frisk covered her mouth with her sleeve, trying to mask the pained noises. 

“Come out, come out wherever you are~” called the evil Sans. 

Sans gave her a stern command. _‘Don't. Move.’_

Frisk stayed as still as she could. She hoped, dreamed, wished, prayed, that she wouldn’t be found. 

“Hmm…” Evil Sans said from a lot closer than before. “I wonder where ya ran off t’…”

Then a horrifying realization hit her on the head. It was so obvious, and a stupid move, and _why_ didn’t she think of it before?

She left footprints in the snow. 

_‘Sans—‘_

_‘Duck!’_

Frisk instantly did as told and ducked her head just as a bone pierced out of the tree she sat against. 

“There ya are.”

Frisk tried to scramble up to run, but she was lifted off the ground by an aura of red magic. She tried to struggle but to no avail. Her eyes fell onto the evil skeleton. He smiled. 

“Now, how to kill you?” He pondered.

‘ _Kid, fight him!’_

“Maybe I should impale you,” he said as bones appeared behind him. 

_‘I'm not fighting!’_

“Maybe I should Gaster blast you.”

_‘You're gonna die! Just fight!’_

_‘No!’_

Evil Sans thought a moment. “Y’know, I never actually tried to kill someone in a simpler way. Heh, yeah.” He flipped her upside down and held her by her feet. “I'll just wait ‘til the blood rushes to your head. But to make it fun…” a bone appeared and cut her neck a little. Frisk flinched and whimpered as she placed her hand over the cut. “Now I can watch you bleed out.” 

_‘Fight him!’_

_‘...N-No.’_

“Heheh. You can struggle if you want, hon. I’d like to see you squirm.” His smile widened. 

Sans growled in frustration. _‘If you're not gonna fight him, then_ I _will.’_

_‘W-what do you—?’_

Frisk closed her maroon eyes and reopened them, her left eye now glowing blue with magic. Evil Sans blinked and took a step back in surprise and confusion. 

“Leave us alone!” Sans yelled as he turned evil Sans’ soul blue and sent him flying back passed the trees of the forest. The magic hold on their feet disappeared, and Sans managed to protect them from falling headfirst to the snowy ground with his arms. 

_‘Sans! No! Please don’t hurt him!’_ Frisk begged him. 

Sans grit his teeth and put his good hand over his neck to stop the bleeding, then achingly picked himself up off the ground. “...I couldn't let him kill you.”

In an instant, Evil Sans shortcutted back to them, fury in his eye sockets and his smile wide. “I have no idea what the hell that was, but I know I'm gonna have a _great_ _time_ killing you.”

Sans’ eye glowed blue again, and he made bone attacks and launched them at the skeleton doppelgänger. Evil Sans dodged and summoned a Gaster Blaster and fired. Sans dodged the blast and summoned his own Gaster Blaster. 

_‘Stop fighting!’_ Frisk pleaded.

Sans heard, but had to ignore the girl’s pleas and fought the other him. The two continued firing and dodging like this for a while. 

_‘Stop!’_ Frisk took control again. 

_‘Kid no! Let me take control!’_ His words came too late. 

As soon as Frisk had control of her body again, a huge wave of exhaustion fell over her as she blacked out and fell to the snowy ground. Not a moment later, a bone stabbed her in the chest. 

* * *

What the hell just happened? He was back behind the trees again? Staring at her on the ground? So did that mean she _did_ have magic? Or was he just imagining her walking and getting shocked by him? Whatever it was, he made sure to turn the buzzer to “stun” this time. 

She went through the same routine again, standing up, zipping up her jacket and walking forward, though this time her expression was more weary. 

He did the same thing again, stopping her and offering his hand, but she came up with an excuse to not shake it. Odd. So then it _wasn’t_ his imagination. Could she travel back in time? Not die? Was that her magic? Or was it something related to that Weed’s determination. He wanted to find out. But he wanted to make this a fun experience either way. 

He stabbed her hand and sent her into the forest for him to hunt down and find. Once he did, he came across a new discovery: she could manipulate gravity, like him. But her voice sounded a bit different. He could tell that it came from the same throat, but it was a bit deeper in tone. Then she could summon bone attacks and her own Gaster Blasters as well. That was suspiciously close to his magic. But why? There had to be a reason. 

More experiments on the way. 

**Load**

* * *

Frisk opened her eyes. She was laying in the snow, back by the door to the ruins. 

“Sans…” she whispered. 

_‘We died again,’_ he stated flatly. 

Frisk pushed herself up out of the snow. 

_‘Make a run for it.’_

Frisk nodded subtly and the girl zipped up her jacket again and made a run for the barricade. Once she was almost there, she felt a wave of relief. 

That is, until someone grabbed the hood of her jacket. 

“Now where d’ya think yer goin’, Princess?” Evil Sans asked. “I’ll give ya twenty seconds to make a run fer it ‘fore I come after ya.”

Frisk ran into the forest again, scared and unsure of what to do. Sans guided her the best he could, but there wasn’t much he could do to help. Frisk insisted on ‘no fighting’ and held that promise no matter what. He would have liked it in his timeline, but here she at least needed it for self defense. Everything wanted to kill her. Just fight to protect yourself.

Frisk hid behind a large rock and hugged her knees to her chest. _‘Why can’t he just leave us alone?’_ She asked.

Sans was about to tell her something supportive, but couldn’t when a bone stabbed through her head.

**Load**

Frisk woke up again. She immediately jumped up and bolted to the gate, hoping and praying that she could get past him. Of course, it didn’t work. 

The Red shortcutted right in front of her, blocking her way, and she came to a screeching halt before she could run into him. 

“Y’won’t get past me that easily, doll,” he said. “But I’ll give ya twenty seconds. Go. See if you can lose me.” 

She ran through the trees again, an utter loss of what to do. _‘Sans, please, I don’t want to keep dying! It hurts!’_

 _‘Okay, okay, I have an idea,’_ he said. _‘You remember where my sentry station is?’_

_‘The one just passed the barricade?’_

_‘Yeah, that one. If you can shortcut there, then try and hide out until he leaves. Maybe he won’t find you.’_

Frisk nodded. _‘It’s worth a shot.’_

A “Ready or not, here I come!” came from the outer part of the forest. 

The girl concentrated and managed to shortcut to his sentry post. She doubled over a bit at the effects of the shortcut, but leaned against the snow-covered post to support herself. 

_‘You okay?’_

Frisk nodded. _‘Yeah. Yeah I’m fine. Just tired.’_

_‘Alright. Now hide inside there.’_

The girl nodded again and climbed inside of the small wooden post. It was warmer in there than she expected, but it was still freezing. She huddled herself up in the corner under the table and zipped up her jacked and pulled up her hood. She was thankful for the soft fur lined hood to keep her warm. She hid there for a long time. So long that she started to fall asleep. 

She was nodding off when she heard a noise. Immediately she was awake again, and she listened carefully. 

Footsteps crunching in the snow. And grumbling. “Yer so _stupid_. How could ya let her get away like that, _dumbass_?” It was evil Sans, most likely talking to himself. 

Frisk remained as silent as she possibly could, praying that he didn’t find her. 

The skeleton growled at himself and leaned against his sentry post. He was about to reach behind the counter to grab a bottle of mustard when something caught his eye socket. The counter, that had been covered with snow, had indentations in it that he recognized when someone had touched it recently. 

His smile widened. He found her. 

He summoned a Gaster Blaster. 

**Load**

Frisk awoke again and sat up with a jolt. She sniffed and zipped up her jacket before she sprinted down the trail again, knowing that it was pointless. As expected, a row of bones shot out of the ground and created a barrier between her and the rest of the path. 

“Yer not gettin’ past me, doll,” evil Sans replied. “But I’ll be nice an’ give y’a twenty second head start ‘fore I come after ya.”

Frisk looked out into the forest again and felt her heart sink. She didn’t want to die again. 

_‘Kid, what are you doin’? Just run!’_ Sans yelled. 

“One… two…” the skeleton started counting out loud.

Frisk faced him once more. “W-Wait! Can we just… talk?”

Evil sans stopped his counting. “Talk?” He laughed. “Seriously? Hun, in case y’haven’t noticed, in this world it’s ‘kill or be killed’.”

“W-w-well it doesn’t _have_ to be…” Frisk tried to say hopefully. “Can’t we just… talk our differences out?”

Red stared at her for a moment, before snorting and bursting out into laughter. “Bahahahah! Oh, wow, y’can’t be _serious_. Alright, _fine_. I know you just wanna buy some time, but I’ll play along.”

He summoned a bone attack and shot it at the girl with intense speed. It caught onto the hood of her jacket and pinned her against the bone wall behind her, earning a yelp from her. 

He leaned over to her and smirked. “What do you wanna ‘ _talk_ ’ about?”

Frisk tried to calm herself in her terror. _‘Oh gosh, what_ do _I talk about? I don’t know anything about this timeline!’_

 _‘Well, he wants to kill you,’_ Sans stated. _‘So try to convince him not to.’_

Frisk gulped. How was she going to do that? “I um…” She stuttered. “You don’t have to do this. I’m not going to hurt anyone.”

“Doesn’t matter,” Red replied. “Humans are illegal. The law is: see a human? Kill it on sight. I’m doin’ y’a favor by lettin’ y’live for _this_ long.”

“B-but I h-haven’t even hurt anyone th-thus far.”

“Law’s still th’ law, hun. Yer th’ last soul we need, too. Everyone an’ their mother’s gonna be huntin’ fer ya.”

“Please…” Frisk practically begged him, eyes tearing up. “I-I-I have to h-help… my f-friend…”

The Sans in red barked another laugh at her. “Hah! Wow! That’s gotta be th’ lamest ‘xcuse I’ve evah heard! What? S’yer friend on th’ surface gonna die if ya don’t show up in time er somethin’?”

Frisk tried not to start trembling again, trying to hold back her tears. “...That’s not… what I… P-please… I just want to help them…”

“Sweetheart, listen. If yer friend’s really _that_ dun fer if ya don’t show, th’n they’re just moochin’ off ya. Not even yer friend t’ begin with. Betcha they’re fakin’ whateva’s got ‘em in trouble so they can take advantage of yer stupid kindness. That’s th’ oldess trick in th’ book.”

“I-it’s not like that…!” Frisk tried to exclaim, but it just came out as a squeak. “P-please! I-I just want to help them…! I-I’m the only one who can…!”

The skeleton just chuckled more, shaking his skull before he put a phalange on her lips and shushed her, making her sink back in fear.

“Ya still don’t git it, Sweetheart. Let’s say I actu’lly believe yer dumb ‘xcuse, that doesn’t change anythin’. There’s no grey area here. S’all black and white. Don’t wanna die? Simple. Don’t be a human.”

Sans gained control and looked him in the eye. “Actually—“

He was cut off by a bone stabbing through their chest. A red glow emitted in the air. 

“ _Actually_ ,” Red picked up, “yer a human. Y’are what y’are, an’ yer not a monster. So _die_. Nice talkin’ to ya, though.”

* * *

Huh. So the human’s soul trait _was_ Determination. That explains the time travel stuff. And, of course she remembers the times she died as well. Otherwise she wouldn’t try out different methods of trying to avoid him. 

Still, that didn’t explain the voice tone shift. Or the magic attacks that were practically identical to his. What was it? It couldn’t be _him_. He wasn’t a girl, a human, or wore blue and purple. But could it be something—or someone—similar?

**Load**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Red: Shake my hand.
> 
> Frisk: I can’t, man. Social distancing and all, y’know? Don’t wanna give you the ‘rona. 
> 
> Red: Imma skeleton. I can’t get sick.
> 
> Frisk: ...oh. 
> 
> So, Red (Underfell Sans) doesn’t really like humans. ...Scratch that, he doesn’t like humans with Determination. ... and other humans too. 
> 
> I don’t really like how I made the perspective shifts this chapter, but I wasn’t really sure how else to go about it. Oh well.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mandatory recap of the last chapter:
> 
> Frisk has a bad time. Red has a great time.

**Load**

Another run and Sans took over again. They fought until evil Sans got him with a lucky shot.

**Load**

Frisk tried to flee again, to no avail. 

**Load**

Frisk tried to talk to the skeleton again, but he wasn’t much for conversation.

**Load**

**Load**

**Load**

**...**

It was about fifteen more times before anything changed. 

Frisk woke up again. She started pushing herself up once more before a second force pulled her up by the hood and forced her against the stone doors. 

“What the hell is your deal?!” Evil Sans yelled at her, an inch away from her face. For the first time, he didn't smile. He scowled at her, pure hatred in his eye sockets. “I've killed you at least twenty times! Why won't you just give up and die?!?!” He slammed her against the stone. 

… 

_‘So he does know.’_

Frisk tried to shake off the stars that she was seeing from her head hitting the stone. She struggled to pull up an actual answer for him. “...I can’t… C-Can't die. Too much… d-determination.”

Evil Sans stared at her, at a loss of what to do. His eye sockets narrowed and went dark, he bowed his head slightly as he shook with rage, sharp teeth clenched. 

“I’ve _noticed_.”

Suddenly he stepped back and pulled her away from the stone before raising a fist up and back to hit. 

Frisk whimpered and shut her eyes as she prepared for the blow. 

…

But it didn’t come. 

After a few moments of nothing happening, Frisk hesitantly peeked out of one eye. The evil Sans’ eye sockets were still dark, and his body had stopped shaking. After another moment, his raised fist dropped, and he soon let go of her jacket as well, letting the girl fall to the snowy ground. 

Frisk looked up at him from the ground, his gaze seeming to be on her, even though his eye lights were still out. A sad smile slowly came to his teeth. 

The skeleton chuckled halfheartedly. “Heh. Heheh. Well, now what?”

… 

Frisk took in a few shaky breaths, and gulped, before finally giving a reply. “...I-I just want to c-cross the barrier. ...T-to go home…”

“Oh yeah? An’ how are ya gonna do that?” He asked mockingly. “ _I_ know ya can’t die. But no one else does. Th’ only reason I stopped tryna was ‘cause I’m bored of killin’ ya now. That’s notta say that I’ve run outta ideas though.”

Frisk felt her chest clench in fear again. The skeleton’s dark eye socket lit up by his glowing red magic, his smile stretching across his face again. He kneeled down to her, slowly pulling out a sharp attack. 

“I could kill ya right now if I wanted. I’ve still got plenty’a ways that I could make ya suffer. Plenty’a reasons too.”

Frisk wanted to crawl backwards to get away, but she was frozen in fear. Thankfully, Sans was quick to hop back in again. Sans narrowed his eyes at his counterpart as he took control of the body. 

“Oh yeah? And what might those be? A high that lasts twenty minutes?” He asked sarcastically, though his tone still tame enough to make sure they weren’t immediately killed again. 

The evil Sans’ smile fell, and he tsked at them. “Oh. It’s _you_ again.”

“What do you mean?”

“I saw ya come out a few times when I was tryna kill her. What? Didn't think I could tell a difference?” he questioned with an eye roll. 

Sans just glared.

The evil Sans dusted himself off and stood up, backing off a few feet to give them some room. “Lemme guess… Yer some other me from some other timeline, aren'tcha?” Red guessed. 

That caught Sans off guard for a moment. But he didn’t let it show on the outside. “So you know about the timelines, too.”

“Obviously, I'm not an _idiot_. Those attacks were exactly like mine. Was no other option t’ choose from.” The skeleton turned back to them and grinned. “So this one managed t’ absorb yer soul, huh? Gotta say, that's pretty impressive. I mean, _I’m_ pretty strong, so I’m assumin’ you are, too. Or am I just givin’ ya the benefit of the doubt?”

Sans sneered, but forced himself to ignore the jab. 

“Too bad she doesn't use yer magic much. Coulda helped her more,” the skeleton said with a shrug. “So whatcha gonna do ‘bout all this, Other me? Can I call ya ‘Other me’? If I were you, which technically I am, I'd make her suffer fer killin’ me. I'd make her die over an’ over again. _Slowly_. So why do ya seem happy t’ be helpin’ her?”

“None of your goddamn business,” Sans sneered again. 

“Actually, it's all of my goddamn business. I'm you, so I should know, right? I juss wanna understand ya, Sans,” he explained with mock sympathy. “Why’re ya helpin’ her? She killed ya, right? Did she kill anyone else? Any other monsters? Oh! Maybe our—“

“She didn’t kill me.”

That made the counterpart stop. 

Sans slowly stood as well, dusting some snow off of him, eyes dim and cast down. 

“The kid didn’t touch me. Just absorbed my soul. Somethin’ else killed me,” he explained with a grim smile. 

_‘...B-but Sans—‘_

_‘I’m tellin’ him the truth, kiddo,’_ Sans told her. _‘You weren’t anywhere near me when it happened.’_

_‘W-well… yeah, but…’_

The skeleton stared for a long while, apparently processing the new information. His eye lights darted back and forth over their frame. 

“Huh. Well then. Guess I can’t attack her fer _that_ reason,” he shrugged. His expression shifted into another terrifying smile. “But what ‘bout everyone else? No way she didn’t kill at least one monster. R i g h t ? ”

Sans didn’t answer. 

The evil Sans just laughed, wiping a tear from his socket. “Oh wow! She _did_! I wonder how many. Just a couple? Maybe a dozen? No? Hm… Oh! I know! Nearly everyone! Am I right?! Tell me I’m close at least!”

…

Frisk hiccuped a sob.

Sans still didn’t answer. He could feel the soul crushing regret and pain coming from Frisk, and it hurt him even more that she didn’t even try to defend herself. So, Sans just started walking down the path, only stopping as he passed his counterpart. 

“You don’t know _anything_. Stop acting like you do.”

He started walking again, shoes crunching in the snow. However, he was stopped when the evil Sans grabbed his arm and jerked them back slightly. 

“Don’t you walk away from me! Yeah! I don’t know shit ‘boutcha! Which’s why I’m confused as hell ‘boutcha helpin’ her!”

Sans tried to pull away from him, but the skeleton grabbed him by their jacket and pulled them eye to eye socket. Sans once again remained silent, though, his determined glare said enough. 

The truth was, Sans didn’t want to make a comment on it. It… it still hurt his soul when he thought about the last timeline. But despite that reason, he didn’t want to comment for Frisk’s sake either. She was obviously beating herself up over her actions, and Sans didn’t want to contribute to her guilt any more than he had to. 

“Answer me when I talk to you, dammit!” The skeleton yelled. 

“Why?” Sans questioned back. “What gives you the right to demand somethin’ like that outta me? ‘Because you’re me?’ Sure, we may share the same name, but we aren’t the same person. I do what I want for my own reasons. I don’t have to justify anythin’ to you.”

This seemed to anger the counterpart even more. He shook and clenched his fists as his glare intensified. He stayed that way for a long moment, before caving and releasing them. 

“Fine. Go on an’ help th’ lil’ murderer escape from here. See if I care when ya keep dyin’.”

Sans instantly felt the sharp pain in their chest from Frisk. The guilt, the self loathing. He couldn’t help but let his eye glow blue with magic again.

“ D o n ‘ t c a l l h e r t h a t . While _she_ won’t ever raise a hand to hurt you, that doesn’t mean that _I_ won’t be willing to. So if you value your skull, b a c k t h e _h e l l_ o f f . “

Sans didn’t wait for a response before walking back down the path. Once he made sure that he was out of earshot, he gave a sigh. 

_‘Asshole.’_

As he walked, he could feel Frisk’s unease. It was like she wanted to say something, but wouldn’t allow herself to. 

_‘You doin’ okay, kiddo?’_

Frisk hesitated, and another wave of unease washed over him. _‘...H-he’s right though…’_

That caught Sans off guard, though he didn’t know why it surprised him. He saw this coming. _‘About what? You haven’t hurt anyone in this timeline. You haven’t even raised a finger to.’_

_‘Y-yeah, but last timeline—‘_

_‘Doesn’t matter. You’re obviously genuine about wanting to do better. To a_ fault _, honestly. C’mon. Let’s forget about it for now and just focus on what’s ahead, okay? I get the feeling that this Papyrus isn’t gonna be like mine.’_

Frisk gave a hesitant confirmation. _‘D… Do you mind if I walk for a little while?’_

_‘I don’t see why not. Just stay alert.’_

_‘Kay.’_ Frisk eased back into control, almost instantly shifting her composure to close herself off more. _‘What should we do if we see anyone?’_

 _‘Try to stay outta sight as best as we can,’_ Sans told her. _‘And if anyone sees us… Well, I guess it’ll depend on the monster.’_

Frisk gave a nod. _‘...And if we see you again?’_

Sans was silent for a moment. _‘...Dunno about that either. Also probably need to think of a nickname for him if we see him again.’_

_‘That’s a good idea. Calling you both Sans might get confusing.’_

Frisk felt a confirmation from him. 

_‘Hmmm… How about “numbskull”.’_

Frisk instantly deadpanned at his suggestion. _‘Sans, no.’_

_‘“The Fake”?’_

_‘Sans—‘_

_‘“Sans But Worse”?’_

_‘Please_ try _to take this seriously…!’_

 _‘Hey, I’m bein’ serious,’_ Sans defended. _‘I’ve already mentally crossed off a bunch of other names since they’re all swears.’_

 _‘You’re not_ helping _,’_ Frisk said with a pout. 

Finally, _finally_ they arrived at the barricade again, this time actually managing to cross to the other side without a threat blocking her way. Frisk nearly sighed with relief. She really, _really_ didn’t want to walk down that pathway _ever_ again. 

Frisk soon stopped when she saw a black and red figure in the distance. What was that? Was it moving closer?

“Oh hey, that looks like my bro.”

Frisk jumped a foot in the air when she heard that deep voice right behind her. She whipped her head around to see the other Sans standing only a few inches away, mischievous smirk on his face. He turned his eye lights to her.

“I’d hide if I were ya, Sweetheart,” he said with a smug grin. “Boss’s brutality rate ‘s _almost_ as high as mine.”

Frisk didn’t even hesitate before turning to the sentry post and hiding behind the small structure. She hoped that it would be a good cover. Even if this Sans’ brother went to the opposite side, she could sneak around the structure to hide. 

It didn’t take long before a loud voice practically boomed nearby. 

“Sans! What are you doing outside your post?!”

… 

The voice… was so similar to Papyrus, yet so different. As Sans heard it, he almost didn’t even know how to describe it. It almost sounded like his brother had swallowed a cheese grater with how rough it was. And Frisk, being curious, wanted to see what this new Papyrus looked like. She inched over to the side of the structure, staying low to the ground to not draw any attention to herself, then peeked around the corner. She nearly flinched at the sight. 

The tall skeleton was dressed in what appeared to be an edgier version of Papyrus’ outfit from the last timeline, now colored black and red, leather pants, and sharp features. His teeth were sharp as well, like the Other Sans’ were. To top it all off, the tall skeleton had what looked to be a nasty crack or claw mark or something over his left eye socket. The sight made the human grimace. 

“Was patrollin’, like I’m s’possed t’,” Other Sans replied sarcastically. “Whaddoya think I was doin’, Boss? Sleepwalkin’ er some shit?”

The edgy Papyrus growled. “Don’t sass me, you pathetic whelp! I know you don’t actually patrol! Have you at least made yourself _useful_ and recalibrated your puzzles?!”

“Tha fuck does it matter anyway? A useful human hasn’t fallen in fereva.”

Frisk decided to scoot away from the corner and hide herself completely again, not wanting to risk Papyrus seeing her. 

“You’re a moron! That means that we’re due for a new human! Don’t you know what will happen if _we_ are the ones to capture the last soul needed?!”

“Yeah yeah, tons uh gold, promotions, yada yada. Like that’s _actu’lly_ gonna happen any time soon.”

“Just because it might not happen, doesn’t mean it _won’t_! Ugh, at least I do not have to worry about _you_ stealing the prize. You’re so lazy, I bet that even if a human came through here, you would just sleep through the whole event! Worthless trash…”

Frisk felt Sans grimacing within. This Papyrus was brutal compared to his. Sure, he got onto Sans for being lazy, but he never called him anything worthless. 

“Hey! I’m _yer_ worthless trash, Boss. Don’t fergit it.”

“UGH! I’m going to go recalibrate my puzzles! _Try_ and make yourself useful and go recalibrate yours!”

“Copy that, Boss.”

Frisk could hear Papyrus grumble something before storming off down the path again, and Frisk made sure to shift her position behind the structure to not let herself be seen by him. 

“Coast ‘s clear, Doll. Ya can come out now.”

After hearing the other Sans’ voice, Frisk hesitantly obeyed and peeked out from her hiding spot. The skeleton just stood there, smirking at her for whatever reason. Probably please with her scared expression. 

Frisk bit her lip, and slowly walked out of hiding. “...Th-Thanks for not ratting us out.”

Other Sans raised a skeptical bone brow at her, then rolled his eye lights. “Don’t git th’ wrong idea, Sweetheart. I ain’t helpin’ ya. _I’m_ juss not quite ready t’ go back t’ th’ loop yet. ‘sides. Yer juss gonna end up dyin’ a ton anyway. Heheh. Hope ya like deadly puzzles.”

And with that, he shortcutted away in a red aura. 

Frisk and Sans were left standing alone in the snowy forest, an eerie breeze brushing by them. Frisk shuddered from the chill and rubbed her arms to help keep herself warm. 

_‘... Well. Off we go then,’_ Sans commented bitterly.

Frisk gave a nod. _‘I think I’ll stay off the path from now on.’_

_‘I don’t know if that’s a good idea or a bad idea, and that worries me.’_

Frisk… couldn’t really argue with that. But, she decided that walking through the trees just beyond the path was probably safer due to some extra cover.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Red hasn’t been given his nickname yet. Don’t worry, it’ll happen eventually. 


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mandatory recap of the last chapter:
> 
> Red is a total ß@$+@rd.

Frisk shivered as she trudged through the snowy forest, always being sure that she could see the path from where she was so to not get lost. 

Despite now having boots on compared to her bare-footed-ness from the last timeline, she was still cold. She couldn’t feel her ears anymore and her nose was slowly getting to that point as well. She huffed some warm air into her hands and pulled her hood over her head to try and stay warm. 

_‘...H-Hey Sans?’_

Frisk felt a small jerk in her soul, as if Sans was pulled back into the present from being alone in his thoughts. 

_‘Yeah kid?’_

Frisk huffed into her hands again and stuffed them into her pockets. Her jacket, while helpful, still wasn’t thick enough for this kind of weather. 

_‘I-I wanted to say thank you. For last time,’_ she told him. _‘You know… When you gave me your slippers. I-I don’t remember if I ever thanked you for that, but knowing me, I probably didn’t. So… thank you for that.’_

Sans was silent for a moment. _‘Oh. No problem, kiddo. Honestly, I don’t remember either. But you were pretty scared back then, so if you didn’t then I understand. Probably would’ve slipped my mind too.’_

Her eyes fell slightly. _‘Scared of literally nothing… I was…’_ She paused, trying to find the right word. Idiot? Moron? Stupid? Those seemed too nice for her. 

_‘If it was nothin’, then what exactly were you scared of anyway?’_ Sans asked her before she could think of a word. It sounded like he was intentionally trying to cut her off anyway. _‘You looked pretty beat up when you left the Ruins. Did something in there scare you?’_

Frisk shook her head slightly. _‘I don’t know… Flowey hurt me, really bad when I first fell down here. Toriel saved me, but… I don’t know… I didn’t really trust her for some reason. And when I tried to leave, she… s-started attacking me. With fire. I-I didn’t know what else to do, so I def—... I… attacked back… I-I didn’t mean to kill her…!’_

_‘Hey, hey, calm down,’_ Sans stopped her. _‘You were scared. You didn’t have anyone else. You have me now. I’m gonna help you through this.’_

That… didn’t reassure her in the slightest. But Sans was trying. Maybe she could make that be reassurance enough? She forced herself to latch onto that instead.

_‘Okay…’_

…

She continued trekking on through the snowy woods. However, she stopped when she heard Papyrus’ loud voice in the distance. She couldn’t make out what he was saying, but it definitely had some anger to it. Then she could hear the Other Sans’ voice yelling back. 

Frisk was quick to hide behind a nearby tree trunk as the voices drew closer. 

“Oh, so my puns ‘r stupid now, ‘s that it?!” Other Sans yelled.

“Yes! That is precisely it! They’re childish, crude, and always fail to make me laugh!” Papyrus yelled back. 

“A’ight then! How’s ’bout I do some impersonations instead?!” Other Sans took a breath before changing his tone to math Papyrus’, volume much louder for others to hear. “Hey guys! Look! I’m the grrrrrreeaat Papyrus! I practice evil laughs in the shower like a frickin’ disgus! Nya nya nya nya!”

“That doesn’t sound like impersonations… That sounds like… mockery! You are mocking me aren’t you?!”

“Nooo! Paps, c’mon. I’m yer brother. I would never— I would never, _eve—_ LOOK BOSS! A HUMAN!”

“WHERE?!”

Frisk ducked down and tried to hide well behind the trees. Did the shorter skeleton really know where she was? How?

… 

Her fear went down a bit when she heard him break out into hysterical laughter.

“Ah, yes, _very_ amusing,” Papyrus seethed. “Any more of that _tomfoolery_ and I’ll have your skull ON A GODDAM PLATTER!”

“Hahah, _y-yikes_ , okay Boss, pff—heheh—“

Frisk listened as she heard loud stomps and crunches of snow as Papyrus stormed away, leaving his laughing brother behind. Slowly, she peeked out from the tree trunk to see that Other Sans was now completely alone, still chuckling to himself as he watched Papyrus leave. 

_‘...Trash,’_ Sans said suddenly, as a suggestion for his counterpart’s nickname. 

_‘We’re not calling him an insult,’_ Frisk told him sternly with a pout. 

She watched for another second before the skeleton finally shortcutted away again. Odd. He didn’t even acknowledge her existence. Did he not actually know that she was there? 

Huh.

Frisk shook her head and trudged on again, huffing into her hands as she walked. 

_‘Fine… No insult names…’_ Sans finally relented. _‘We’ll think of somethin’ for Other Me.’_

Frisk gave a small nod, and rubbed her arms as she walked through the snowy woods. 

…

It wasn’t too long before they stumbled upon the only way to move forward; a cave that led to the rest of the Underground that had no other way to get through. A one way exit.

_Exactly where Papyrus and Other Sans were_. 

Frisk ducked down behind the trees again. _‘...Sans, what should we do?’_

_‘Well… We can either shortcut past, wait for them to leave, or go out there and deal with whatever it is that they’re gonna throw at us.’_

Frisk gave a small, slow nod. _‘I guess I’m just going to wait them out, then.’_

_‘Alright.’_

…

Except that the skeleton brothers didn’t leave. They were just… talking and arguing and insulting each other. Why wouldn’t they just leave?!

_‘Are we going to have to confront them?’_ Frisk asked. 

_‘I’m not sure,’_ Sans said with uncertainty. _‘Our only other option is to wait, or to take a shortcut. But that’ll put stress on your body if we do.’_

Frisk grimaced. Neither were good options. If she stayed in place too long, her body would get too cold from the lack of movement and blood circulation. Taking a shortcut would be bad as well, since she both didn’t know who would be on the other side, and her body would be too fatigued to run. 

It seemed that fate made the decision for them, since a noise was heard from behind. Frisk turned her head around to find a dog in the distance, sniffing the air and slowly making her way towards her. Frisk pressed herself against the trunk, as if that would hide her better. 

_‘Wh-who’s that?!’_

_‘Shi— That’s Doggo. He’s one of the guard dogs in Snowdin. He’s blind, but his vision is based on movement.’_

Frisk was trying not to panic, though she was failing miserably. She slowly started backing around the trunk to hide. _‘B-but he’s a dog! Can he smell me?! Can he find me?! He’s getting closer! What do we do?!’_

Then suddenly, she thought of something. She gripped the bark, and looked up the tree. 

_‘Can dogs climb?’_

_‘...Trees, no. Their paws aren’t made for that kinda stuff,’_ Sans answered. 

Frisk gave a nod, then checked the dog again, much closer than he was before, but still a somewhat safe distance away from her. It appeared that he was following her scent, muttering something about something smelling weird. The girl didn’t take another second before she started climbing up the tree, being quick about her movements, but careful enough to not slip on the thin iced layer on the bark. 

By the time Doggo heard her and rushed over to investigate, Frisk was already up high enough for her to be out of his grasp, even if he jumped. She kept climbing anyway however, especially when he started to yell.

“Who’s moving up there?! You better not be a human! Identify yourself!”

Frisk didn’t answer, obviously. She made it to the top relatively quickly, probably twenty or thirty feet above the ground. Once she got as high as she could, she hugged the trunk and stood as still as she could, eyes wide as she looked down to the dog. 

“Get down from there! I know you’re still up there!”

“Doggo! What seems to be the issue?”

Frisk’s maroon eyes widened even more when she heard the raspy voice. The skeleton brothers were approaching. 

At Papyrus’ voice, Doggo jumped, then stood at attention. “Apologies for disturbing you, sir! I smelled something odd and decided to investigate. The trail led to whoever’s in that tree now.”

Two skulls turned up towards her. Frisk could feel her heart falling into her stomach. Papyrus was looking directly at her, as well as Other Sans, though she couldn’t make out their expressions from down there. There was a couple seconds of silence, but it felt like an eternity to the girl. Were they going to shoot her out of the tree? Despite her love of climbing trees, she hated heights most of the time, and hated falling even more. And falling thirty feet wasn’t something she was looking forward to.

… 

“There’s no need for all of this commotion!” Papyrus sneered with agitation. “It is just one of the local teenagers, for God’s sake. Get down from there, you rapscallion!”

Frisk furrowed her eyebrows. N… No way he thought she was a monster…

Doggo instantly flinched when he heard the identification, giving a tense bow. “I-I-I apologize again, sir. M-my nose must be acting up.”

“Yes, do be sure to lay off the dog treats when on duty, _Doggo_ ,” Papyrus replied, venom clearly evident. “Now stop wasting everyone’s time and hurry back to your post.”

“Y-Yessir!” The dog turned heel and ran off. 

… 

Frisk watched and listened as he got further and further away, and once he was officially out of sight, Papyrus turned his gaze back up to her. _Both_ skeletons were staring at her. 

“Human! I demand you come down from there and face me this instant!” Papyrus proclaimed as he pointed at her. 

_‘...So he does know,’_ Frisk commented. 

_‘Yeah,’_ Sans replied. _‘He probably didn’t want Doggo to find out and try and get in his way.’_

_‘Makes sense, I guess…’_ Frisk gulped, hugging the trunk a little tighter. “I-if I come down, are you going to kill me?”

Papyrus blinked, then the two brothers exchanged glances, Other Sans giving a shrug. It appeared that he was acting like he hadn’t known about her. Something else that probably made sense as well. 

Papyrus faced her again with a sigh. “No, not yet. However, you will be given deadly japes to solve in exchange for your life.”

… 

_‘...Better than dying immediately,’_ she caved. 

Reluctantly, she began to climb down from the tall tree, being careful not to slip on the snow and ice. Though, it was difficult considering her fingers were almost completely numb at this point. Gosh, it _hurt_. But, she made it down safely, landing in the snowy ground a few feet away from the skeleton brothers. 

Papyrus was so tall. Other Sans was a few inches taller than her, and Papyrus was nearly a head and a half taller than _him_. It was even more intimidating how tense his expression was at her. With a quick glance, she could see Other Sans giving her a… curious expression. Not glaring, but… evaluating. 

Frisk couldn’t help but shrink on herself, both from their boring eye sockets and from the cold. She couldn’t look them in the eye. 

“Sans, how did you not take notice that there was a human?” Papyrus demanded, turning his skull towards his brother. 

“I was with ya fer th’ last half hour, Boss. Gimme a break,” the short skeleton barked back. 

Papyrus scoffed and faced her again. “Listen close, Human, because I will only explain this once. I am the great and terrifying Papyrus, rising member of the Royal Guard. _This_ , is my useless brother, Sans.”

“Sup.”

“As an enemy of Underground, you are wanted by the kingdom. However, you will not be executed on sight in Snowdin. You will be given several trials to survive to prove your worth. If you survive each and every one, you will then enter a battle with me. If— _if_ you somehow manage to defeat me, you will not be executed by me, and be allowed to continue. _This_ is the exchange for your life. Do you understand the situation, tiny human?”

Frisk was frozen, in shock and from the cold. She stared wide eyed at him for a moment. “...U-Uh-huh…”

… The tall skeleton’s eye lights flickered back and forth, examining her. “Very well! You shall meet me up ahead. Sans, watch the human and make sure that it doesn’t try to escape.”

“Copy that, Boss,” Other Sans said with a groan.

Papyrus gave a nod and walked off towards the puzzle, leaving the two alone. Frisk bit her lip, standing stiffly as the shorter skeleton narrowed his sockets at her. 

“Don’ tell ‘im.”

“H-huh?” Frisk stuttered. 

“Don’ tell ‘im ‘bout yer soul. ‘Bout yer determination,” Other Sans told them. “Don’ lettem know you can reset. If ya do, I’ll kill ya an’ make it so he doesn’t ‘member.”

Frisk blinked. “O-oh... Okay. C… Can I ask why thou—“

“No.”

…

_‘Okay, screw you too.’_

_‘Sans…!’_

_‘What? He can’t hear me.’_

“Now let’s ‘urry up an’ meet up with my bro,” Other Sans said as he turned around. “Those bear traps aren’t gonna trap themselves.”

_‘B-bear traps?!’_

“Bear traps?!” Sans exclaimed as he took control.

“Yeah,” the skeleton replied dully. “Also, don’t use yer magic if ya know what’s good fer ya. If Boss finds out ya ‘ave a human-monster soul, yer done fer.” 

Sans deadpanned irritably. “ _Duly noted_.”

“Now git movin’! S’not smart t’ keep Boss waitin’.”

Sans growled, but followed nonetheless. “Why do you call him ‘Boss’?”

Other Sans half-scoffed-half… made a noise of disgust. “Th’ fuck do _you_ care?”

… Sans didn’t answer. _‘Honestly, I don’t really know why,’_ he admitted to Frisk. _‘But it’s not how it was with my Papyrus.’_

He felt a hesitant confirmation from Frisk. _‘Y-yeah. Their relationship seems a little more… strained…’_

Sans gave a subtle nod. _‘Paps and I were always close. I mean, I practically raised him. These guys look like they just_ tolerate _each other.’_

Another small confirmation.

* * *

They arrived at the first trial relatively quickly. Other Sans was quick to shortcut across the blue square on the snowy ground next to his brother. 

Frisk recognized the puzzle setup. Last time, it had been an invisible electricity maze, with the penalty being that she would be shocked if she stepped in the wrong place. She had used a loophole last time by just walking around it before, and Papyrus had been too sweet to make her actually go through it. Or maybe the thought just hadn’t crossed his mind at the time.

“Human! This is your first trial!” The scary Papyrus proclaimed as he pointed at her. “Before you is an invisible maze. Hidden below the snow are a series of bear traps that will snare you if you step on them. Your goal is to make it through the maze without being caught in one. Going around the maze will count as an instant forfeit, and you will be given a severe penalty. However, you can use any other methods to help you complete your task, as long as you do not receive assistance from a third party. Do you understand?”

Frisk was starting to tremble, legs already numb, and she had a feeling that it wasn’t from the cold. 

“...I-I… I-I think s-so…?” She squeaked out. 

“Very well. The trials you face will have no time limit, however, I urge you to try to finish them within a timely manner.”

“R-right.”

Frisk examined the blue ground in front of her. 

_‘Hmmm… I can’t see a difference in the snow,’_ Sans commented. _‘The bear traps have been covered up well. Usually you’d have to hide them under leaves or something. But the ground looks exactly the same. No bumps or anything.’_

Frisk gave a nod. _‘How to get across…’_

The square looked to be ten feet wide, basically twice her height. 

_‘It’s too far for me to jump, even with a running start,’_ Frisk said. 

She felt a confirmation from Sans. _‘... Oh! Would you be able to pole vault it?’_

Frisk blinked. _‘Pole vault…’_

The idea sounded great. Just as long as she could jump a little more than half way, then she should be able to make it the rest with the help of a pole or a stick or something, if she could find one nearby. However… It was really risky. She hadn’t ever done something like that before. She had no techniques on the matter. Even if she could come back to life, she didn’t want to die if she didn’t have to. Even then, getting caught in a bear trap probably wouldn’t even kill her quickly. She’d be stuck in it, slowly bleeding out. 

She didn’t want another slow death. 

She glanced around, looking for anything that could help her. Trees, rocks, branches… Oh!

Frisk faced Papyrus again. “Can I leave for a moment and come right back?”

Papyrus was… surprised by her demand. He gave a slightly impressed blink at her, and Other Sans seemed just as surprised. Papyrus cleared his… throat? How did that work?

“Very well. But if I find that you are fraternizing with anyone, or if you attempt to avoid this trial, then you will be given a penalty.”

Frisk nodded and walked towards her objective.

A nearby tree. 

The branch she had in her sights was perfect. Already breaking off from the trunk, long and thin, but thick enough to not bend or break easily. It was a few feet up in the air, but that wasn’t much of a problem for her. She climbed up with the lower branches, then jumped to hang from the breaking branch. Using her weight, she was able to pull it off, and she tumbled down to the snow with it. Bit of a rough landing, but not bad. 

With a burst of determination, she grabbed the long branch and dragged it back towards the puzzle where the skeleton brothers were waiting. They gave her another slightly impressed look when they saw her with the much too large branch she dragged behind her. 

Panting slightly, Frisk made it back and let out a sigh, before straightening up. “Can I use this to help me?”

Papyrus once again blinked, and this time the brothers exchanged glances with one another. Finally, the taller faced her again. 

“Yes, that is acceptable,” he said with a nod. 

Frisk gave him one back, then sucked in some air as she prepared. She pulled the long branch up, her cheeks puffing as she strained her muscles slightly from the weight, until it was basically over her shoulder like a rifle. With another puff of air, she readjusted her grip on it, managed to hold it up slightly higher, then slammed it down on the snow. 

A chorus of loud snaps and clanks were heard when the bear traps were set off by both the branch, and each other in a domino effect. After a few seconds the snaps went silent, and with a quick glance, Frisk could see many now closed traps all around where the branch came down. 

Perfect. 

Frisk was easily able to walk through without having to worry anymore. After safely crossing, she stared at the skeleton brothers’ befuddled expressions. 

“...Did I do it right? I didn’t cheat, did I?” Frisk questioned meekly. She didn’t want to be given a ‘ _penalty’_ for a rule she didn’t know she might have been breaking after all. 

_‘I’m really impressed with you, kid. I don’t think I would’ve thought of that.’_

_‘Y-yeah. I saw it in a video game.’_

_‘Ah. Well, it worked out really well.’_

_‘Thanks.’_

The skeleton brothers were still slightly flabbergasted, but managed to break free soon enough. 

“Um, n-no! You… solved the puzzle fairly. Er… W… Well done, human,” Papyrus said reluctantly. “Though be prepared, for your next trial won’t be so easy! It was made by Sans, and his trials require advanced critical thinking. Is it already prepared, Sans?”

Other Sans nodded. “Yep. Ready t’ go whenevah.”

“Good! Then we shall escort you personally, Human. To make sure you won’t try to escape.”

Frisk gulped, and gave a small nod. “Mkay…”

The group started walking off, Papyrus leading the way, and Other Sans walking behind Frisk. The girl huffed into her hands and rubbed them together to keep warm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... Imma be real... I took the idea of the bear traps and the technique to get by it from Little Nightmares II. And hey, if you like Little Nightmares, I made a one-shot called “How Could I...?” that you guys can check out if you want. It’s only been a week since I posted it, and it’s already more than twice as popular as this fic.
> 
> Anyway. The reason Papyrus doesn’t kill Frisk on sight like Red is because Papyrus likes a challenge. As one of the strongest monsters in the Underground, there are very few who can give him a good fight. He hopes that a human (know for being much stronger than monsters) can give him the challenge he craves.
> 
> (That or he just wants an excuse to use puzzles)
> 
> Also, life update! The pipes in my house burst. There’s snow everywhere in a town where we get snow like once a decade. It’s not gonna melt for a week or two either. My mom, brother, dad, dog and I are crashing at my grandparents for a few days, and then we’ll hopefully be able to get a hotel that the insurance is totally paying for.
> 
> Internet is going down constantly due to the snow. There are a ton more car crashes because no one here knows how to drive in snow. Snow snow snow in a place that hasn’t seen snow in like seven years-ish. 
> 
> tl;dr Content from me will be slow for a while.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mandatory recap of the last chapter:
> 
> Bear traps are no match for sticks.

“Sans, where is the puzzle?!”

Frisk flinched back slightly at Papyrus’ harsh tone, even though it wasn’t even directed at her. 

Getting to the next puzzle had been easy enough, since the human was being escorted by the skeleton brothers themselves. Anyone who saw them wouldn’t dare to mess with her while the two were right there. Once they had approached the area, Frisk had thought that the next puzzle would be not visible like the last one. But apparently there just wasn’t one there. 

“I thought you said your puzzle was _ready_!” Papyrus yelled. 

“Calm down, Boss. I got it right ‘ere.” Other Sans pulled out his cell phone, put in the password, then tossed it to Frisk. 

Frisk juggled to catch it, then looked at what was on the screen. Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “...Sudoku?”

“Ya know how t’ play, Doll?” 

Frisk nodded at the short skeleton. She understood how it worked, though she didn’t play the game often. She usually only played it when she was going on long airplane trips. 

“Cool. Don’t gotta ‘xplain then,” Other Sans said. “Since this’s digital, you’ll hafta put in th’ numbers usin’ th’ keys on th’ side. Click on th’ number, then touch th’ box ya wanna put it in. If ya got it right, th’ number’ll be blue. Wrong, an’ it’ll be red. If ya git a number wrong three times, ya lose. Oh yeah. A n d y o u ‘ l l b e p l a y i n ‘ o n _e x p e r t_ . Gooood luck with that.”

If Frisk wasn’t so cold, she would’ve started sweating. She glanced up nervously at Papyrus, who was looking like he was resisting the urge to facepalm in frustration. 

She looked back to the screen. The game had already been started, with the timer in the corner ticking by. It didn’t appear that the stopwatch was going to be a penalty since Papyrus had stated before that time wasn’t a concern. Besides. It was going up, not down. That was a relief. 

Frisk’s chest tightened when she saw the board. _‘There are so little numbers…!’_

 _‘Easy there kid,’_ Sans soothed her. _‘How about you let me handle this one. You solved the last puzzle, so it’s the least I can do.’_

Frisk gulped, but gave a small nod. _‘D-do you play this game often?’_

 _‘Totally. Play it on my phone all the time. Guess Other Me does too, otherwise he’d’ve picked somethin’ else.’_ Sans took control, and had to force himself to hold back a smirk at the thought. _‘Other Me really did himself in this time. Should’ve picked a game I_ don’t _know.’_

Sans was able to pick up the first few numbers with ease. One, five, seven. But he went through the eights and nines, then back up the scale only to find nothing. 

_‘Sans, what do we do? There aren’t any more hints!’_

_‘Don’t worry, Frisk. There are. We just have to look harder.’_

_‘H-how? You saw—there’s nothing else there!’_

Sans shook his head subtly. _‘That’s because you’re lookin’ at it from only one angle. There are other methods. Like… Ah-hah! Here!’_

He placed a two in a box. Blue, so it was correct. 

_‘W-Wha…? H-how did you know it was that one?’_ Frisk questioned. 

Sans couldn’t help but give a small satisfied smile. _‘The way we were working before isn’t the only way to solve this. What we were doing was looking at only one kind of number, then crossing out the boxes that they couldn’t be in to find a place where the next one would be, using the other numbers to help narrow it down. Now we have to look at it through the columns and rows, instead of the numbers. Like this.’_

He hovered his thumb over a column. 

_‘This row has four numbers already in it, the most so far. We can use the other numbers both in the sections, and in the columns perpendicular to it. Once we know which numbers can’t go where, we can figure out which ones do.’_

_‘...Okay, okay! I think I get it!’_ Frisk said excitedly. 

_‘Like chess, you have to think ten steps ahead,’_ Sans commented, starting to fill in more boxes. 

It was a slow rate, but he had to be extra sure each time that he wouldn’t have to risk a wrong number to get one. Unfortunately at one point, he got stuck. He had to risk it. Thankfully the number was correct. Another risk. This time, wrong. He inwardly tsked at himself. At least he knew what went where. Also thankfully, after that, he didn’t have to take many more risks, and got the couple he stumbled across right. It was easy to fill the rest in after that. He filled in the last box, and the screen lit up with confetti, showing his results. 

“Done.”

Sans held up the phone to the skeleton brothers, showing them the victory screen. Papyrus practically jumped forward and ripped the phone from his hand, checking over the results. Meanwhile, Sans had to keep his cool as his counterpart glared daggers at him, teeth practically bared. 

Sans just gave him a sly smirk back, as if to tell him how stupid his move was. The red skeleton just glared harder, very aware of his mistake, but too angry to admit it. 

Papyrus composed himself finally and turned back to face them. “...It seems that you have solved this trial fairly as well, Human, with only one caught mistake; not enough to give you a penalty… Very well. I shall prepare the next trial. Sans—“

“Got it, Boss.”

“Good. Nyahaha!”

Sans watched as the tall skeleton strided off down the path. 

“...Was that his attempt at an evil laugh?” Sans asked. 

“Say that in fronta his face an’ yer dead,” Other Sans sneered. 

Sans just smirked and placed his hands on his hips. “Yeah. And nice one for pickin’ _Sudoku_ , of all puzzles. You sure did give us an advantage by choosing a game I play all the time.”

Other Sans’ eye sockets went dark, his left eye suddenly lighting up red. His grin was eerily wide. “Oh, keep _that_ up an’ we can play a new game! It’s called… Shut th’ hell up ‘fore I shove a _goddamn knife_ _down yer throat_!

Frisk was quick to hop back into the conversation, bowing her head and clapping her hands together in a prayer as an apology. “I-I’m sorry! I’m _r-really_ sorry! I-I-I’m s-sure Sans d-didn’t mean to…” What was it…? Sass? Offend?

She heard a “Tch”.

Frisk meekly looked up to see the skeleton eyeing her weirdly, then looking away in… disgust maybe? She wasn’t sure. 

“Y’can’t act like that if yer tryna survive, Sweetheart.”

Frisk lowered her arms, shaking slightly. “...Wh-what do you mean?”

Red started walking off, Frisk following behind as he talked. 

“In this world, ‘s kill er be killed,” he said. “Monsters can smell fear a mile away. If yer gonna try an’ survive this, stop actin’ all _meek_ an’ _shy_. Monsters’ll walk all over ya if ya show ‘em how scared ya are. Ya can’t wear yer emotions on yer goddamn sleeve.”

Frisk furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, arms wrapping around herself again, unsure if it was from the cold or from her emotions. 

“...I-I can’t…” She admitted softly. “I… I can’t help it… I-I don’t know _how…_ ”

She heard a half-groan-half-scoff from him. “God! How old are ya? _Nine_?” He demanded sarcastically. 

Frisk looked down. “...Twelve…”

Other Sans stopped. Frisk stopped and stood behind him, unsure what to do. She flinched when he slapped a hand on his face, dragging it down to his chin in… annoyance probably. 

“Fuckin’ hell, yer practically an infant,” he muttered. “No wonder Other Me hasta come out an’ fight fer ya all th’ goddamn time.”

 _‘Rude.’_

Frisk chose not to comment on Sans’, though she didn’t approve. 

Other Sans turned back to face her, and pointed at the ground. “Sit down. Rest.”

Frisk blinked. “...B-but won’t Papyrus—?”

“You’ll die anyway, an’ I don’t wantcha t’ load all th’ way back by th’ Ruins er some shit. So sit down so y’can save an’ not make us do everythin’ again!”

The girl gave a squeak and hunched down to the ground, supporting her body weight on her feet. 

“ _All_ the way!” 

“I-I can’t…!”

“Why not?”

“I-it’s too cold.”

“Well, th’ only warm seat nearby ‘s my lap, an’ I ain’t no creeper, so suck it up.”

“It’s serious…! I-I could freeze to death…! I might have to cut off a limb if it gets too bad…!”

“Augh, _fine_! Use my friggin’ jacket as a friggin’ seat, _Princess_.” The skeleton—annoyed— begrudgingly tossed his jacket at her for her to catch. 

Frisk squeaked as the fabric practically fell on her face, managing to catch it before it could fall on the ground. She didn’t really pull it away from her face however. The tears were welling up in her maroon eyes.

She was such a burden, wasn’t she? 

* * *

The skeleton watched as the human clung to his jacket, face buried into the fabric. 

Great, what was it _now_?

Was his jacket not good enough for her? Couldn’t the little brat just do what he said for _two_ _minutes_? He was trying to keep her from having to load all the way back to whenever she last saved, likely either back by the Ruins door, or his sentry post. He was doing her a goddamn favor by making her rest, and she had to go and whine all about it.

_“nO i CaNt SiT hErE! ItS tOo CoLd!”_

Yeah right. Suck it up, Princess. Not everything’s gonna be to your liking in this world. You can handle a cold seat for two goddamn minutes.

He watched as she suddenly fell forward onto her knees, bare caps falling in the snow. His bone brows furrowed in confusion and annoyance.

“Goddammit, that’s what ya were s’posst t’ use the jacket fer—“

He trailed off when he saw her shoulders bouncing. He sneered. Was she frigging laughing at him?! That thought was cut short when he heard a noise. It didn’t sound like laughter. It sounded more like… sobbing.

His glare softened slightly when he figured it out. 

“...I’m… I-I’m s-sorry…!” She cried, muffled slightly by the fabric. “I didn’t…! *hic* … m-mean to…! *sob* I-I’m sorry…!”

It appeared that she couldn’t put her words together, but he could guess pretty easily what she meant. 

_“I’m sorry that I made you feel like you had to do this for me. I didn’t mean to make you do something like that for me.”_

… He averted his gaze. 

He was being too harsh, wasn’t he? Hell, the girl was a kid. It’s not like Papyrus wasn’t like that when he was that young. 

The skeleton sighed. “Fergit it. Juss… sit down. Rest fer two minutes. I don’t care if ya have t’ sit on my jacket. I really don’t care. Juss sit.”

… 

She eventually did sit down. However, she didn’t use his coat. 

* * *

Frisk shivered much more heavily now as she walked behind the skeleton, who had his jacket back on. 

She basically refused to use it as a cushion when he instructed her to rest. She just couldn’t bring herself to do it. She felt like she would be tainting it somehow, making Other Sans even angrier at her. 

It may have worked too. He didn’t yell at her again after she forced herself to sit on the freezing cold ground, the snow melting against her warm body heat and making her more cold. Okay, so as long as she didn’t bother him with herself, then she wouldn’t be yelled at. Good to know. 

Sans was openly opposed to this line of thinking. 

_‘Frisk, you can’t let him do this to you! I know it’s hard, but you need to stand up for yourself!’_

Frisk knew he was right. But she couldn’t bring herself to actually do as he told her. She just forced herself to keep silent, even as she sobbed. It was annoying how her tears froze on her face, but it was what she got for acting like that. Besides, she was used to crying without making much noise. 

The next few trials were relatively simple enough. Just mazes that either Sans could figure out quickly, or mazes that just looked like a hallway with no negative repercussions by stepping on the tiles (that particular stroke of luck made Papyrus flip his crap). 

Finally, there was the last trial before she would have to fight Papyrus. 

Frisk was already intimidated by heights, so walking across a rope bridge that looked like it would collapse if she stepped too hard on it made her… _uneasy_ to say the least. Gripping tightly to the roped railings, she watched the skeleton brothers on the other end, completely safe on the ground as Papyrus gave her her final instructions. 

“Human! This is your final trial! Your mission is to make it across the bridge without dying and/or falling off. There will be blades, flames, and swinging projectiles to dodge. You may use any method to make it across, as long as you do not receive aid from an outside source. If you can accomplish your mission, then you must fight me and defeat me to prove your worth, and be allowed to continue. Any questions?”

Frisk’s heart was already racing, just looking at everything that was prepared to activate. Everything was numb, from the potential horror, but mostly from the freezing temperatures she already had to endure. She was shaking, her fingers already tinged blue. If she stayed out here for much longer, she would probably have to cut off a finger or two at best. 

Frisk gulped and hesitantly asked, “...I-If I-I w-w-win th-this, b-but lose t-to y-you, wh-what will h-happe-ppen to m-me-me?”

Papyrus straightened up and gave an arrogant smile. “Then I shall capture you, Sans shall kill you, and I will take your soul and deliver it to the Capital. Anything else?”

Frisk bit her lip and looked around at her surroundings and situations. _‘...Sans, I won’t be able to do this…! I can barely feel anything and I can hardly even move…!’_

 _‘...I know, kid,’_ Sans admitted with a ‘burr’. _‘I have an idea though. Just let me handle this one, ‘kay? And you can’t take control again until I say so.’_

Frisk was hesitant to agree, but ultimately decided that this was for the best anyway. Sans was smart, and he knew what he was doing. She’d just mess everything up if she tried. She was a bit startled when she felt a skeptical aura from him. What was that for? He didn’t say anything about it though, and just took control of the body. 

Sans gave a nod to the brothers. “N-No, I-I-I’m r-ready.”

God, his teeth were chattering so much. He missed his old body. He could barely even feel the cold when he was a skeleton. He wondered how Frisk had even managed to survive the last run through Snowdin, in nothing but his slippers nonetheless. 

“Very well! Then I shall start the trial in…”

Papyrus held up a remote.

_‘Oh, I don’t like this…’_

Sans had to agree. 

“Three! … Two! … ONE!”

Everything went to chaos. 

Sans was able to dodge the first few projectiles, but the rope bridge quickly collapsed with all of the movement and other blades, fire, and whatever else that was thrown upon it. Sans was pretty sure that this Papyrus was just planning to throw them down the ravine to begin with and that everything else was just for show. 

Once the rope gave way, and the human began to fall, the former skeleton was quick to shortcut out of there. It was actually mostly on instinct, since Sans wasn’t used to the feeling of organs floating up when gravity took over. The landing was instantaneous, and only slightly rough, but what cushioned enough by the snow on the ground. 

Sans pushed himself off of the freezing ground, turning his head to see where he landed. Only a short distance away from the skeleton brothers, a few dozen feet behind where they stood, staring down at the falling bridge. 

The Other Sans shot his skull around and found them relatively quickly. However, there was some expression on his face that neither Sans nor Frisk could quite place. Was it panic? Concern? Anger? Irritation? 

Soon afterward, Papyrus turned to his brother, then followed his gaze and landed his sockets on the human. Sans could see the gears starting to turn in his skull as to what happened and what it meant. 

Sans did give him the chance to place it all together yet before scrambling up and running. He could hear Papyrus yell from the distance. 

“It has magic! It absorbed a monster soul! Sans, get it!”

Sans cursed. _‘Shit! Other Me has teleportation magic too! He’s gonna catch us for sure!’_

_‘C-can’t you just shortcut somewhere before he can get us?!’_

_‘That’s the plan, kid.’_

And he was half a second from accomplishing that. Unfortunately, a dull but sharp pain in the back of their head stopped everything. They fell to the ground, freezing cold seeping into their very being. 

“Sorry, Sweetheart. I warned ya.”

And everything went black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Frisk and Sans have been got! Can we send out an Amber Alert for them?
> 
> I was having a hard time trying to convey the techniques used in Sudoku. It’s really difficult without using a visual to help me describe it. Those of you who play, please let me know if you got it or not.
> 
> So, we are starting to get some character development between Red and Frisk. And more development on the way! Sans is still salty though. Which, you know, is fair. 
> 
> Now LIFE UPDATE! I’ve been staying in a hotel for the last few weeks, and we’re not gonna get our pipes fixed for a long while. Our insurance asked around to find someone to fix them, but they said they had a waiting list of, like, 600 people. Yikes.
> 
> So being stuck in a hotel has kinda taken a toll on my mental heath. Nothing too serious, but it’s been difficult for me to be motivated to write. Or at least write for this story. I’ve been able to make a few one-shots for Little Nightmares, and there will likely be more on the way for that. I dunno. Little Nightmares 2 is basically helping me though this.


End file.
